080
http://www.wnd.sg“The Swan, Calera, Pommard and Martini are
heritage clones with beautiful characters but they don’t
produce a high yield so growers won’t grow them for us
because, financially, it doesn’t make sense for them. So
we decided to plant them ourselves,” says Akiko. “We
also included the high-yielding Dijon 115 as a backup
in case the year turns out to be bad and everything else
fails. But the 115 is an all-rounder with a nice flavour
profile. If you have to make [a Pinot] from one clone,
the 115 is probably a good choice.”
The Freemans added the Yu-ki vineyard—named
after Akiko’s nephew in Japan—to their estate in 2007,
dedicating the 14-acre site to Pinot Noir. Sitting at a
height of 1,000 ft and located just five miles from the
Pacific Ocean, the Yu-ki vineyard is steep, with strong
winds that sweep across the slopes packed with sandy
clay loam soils. Its cooler and wetter conditions mean
the grapes are picked two to three weeks later than
Gloria’s. The Yu-ki Pinot Noir is known for its excellent
acidity and aromatics.
“When we started our winery, we were going
against the current by making elegant Pinot
Noirs,” recalls Akiko. “At that time, Pinots were like
Zinfandels—over-extracted with high alcohol. But
today, I’m happy to see the industry shifting towards
the lighter styles.”
The winery’s Chardonnay is also a departure from
the heavily-oaked, buttery quaffs that have persisted
among Californian vintners. The Ryo-fu (‘cool breeze’ in
Japanese) Chardonnay 2013, which is barrel-fermented
and aged for 10 months in French oak, is fresh and
floral, with touches of pear, honey, and vanilla. Its
acidity is lean and tight; ever-present but never
overpowering the elegant, balanced profile of the wine.
“We tend to pick our Chardonnay earlier than other
winemakers [in the region],” says Akiko. “For the Ryo-
fu, we pick the fruit at around 23 Brix (the sugar level
that gauges the wine’s potential alcohol content), whileothers usually pick theirs at 25 Brix. We don’t want to
add acidity [during fermentation], we prefer to have
natural acidity. So 23 Brix is the sweet spot for us.”
Akiko has come a long way in her wine journey.
Before winemaking got into her life, she was an art
historian with a master’s degree in Italian Renaissance
art, more comfortable in discussing Botticelli than
botrytis. The Freemans had hired Ed Kurtzman, a
renowned consulting winemaker in California, as their
winemaker. Akiko learned the ropes from Kurtzman,
and eventually took over winemaking duties from him
in 2010.
“When Ed joined us, I noticed that 80 per cent of
the time, he was always washing something—a tank,
a barrel. I felt bad because we didn’t have a budget to
hire an assistant for him, so I became his assistant and
did those chores,” she recalls. “I became fascinated by
the winemaking process and followed him wherever he
went.”
Today, the winery makes 80,000 bottles a year, an
amount which Akiko says represents her “physical
limit” as she handles all the winemaking. Thus, there
are no plans to increase their production, despite
increasing demand for their wines.
In the coming months, the Freemans hope to have
the West Sonoma Coast recognised as a new American
Viticulture Area (AVA); an initiative that has been
proposed and lobbied by the West Sonoma Coast
Vintners association, of which Freeman Winery is a
member. Ken says the new AVA has been tentatively
approved by the Tax and Trade Bureau, the U.S.
government agency that oversees wine appellation
rules. “This [new AVA] will be good for consumers, as
they’d have a better understanding of how the wines
in the areas [of the Sonoma Coast] can be distinctively
different from each other.”
Freeman Winery’s wines available from Giron.
Tel: 6476 1569Left Performing a punch-down for Pinot NoirOpposite page, from top The Pinot Noir pairs well with
duck and quail; Freeman Winery’s Ryo-fu Chardonnay