Occidental Winery - Freestone-Occidental Pinot Noir 2021
Price: $89.99
Producer | Occidental Winery |
Country | California |
Region | Sonoma Coast |
Varietal | Pinot Noir |
Vintage | 2021 |
Sku | 30379 |
#2, Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2023!
Wine Advocate: 98 Points
"The 2021 Pinot Noir Freestone-Occidental is incredibly expressive and detailed! Its aromas open slowly from blueberry, rhubarb and cranberry to tones of bitter orange, amaro, mossy bark and lavender, continuing to reveal new accents with each return to the glass. Light-bodied, it floods the mouth with fragrant, detailed fruit supported by chalky tannins and focused, shimmery acidity that calls you in for another sip. It has a haunting finish loaded with spicy layers, and it's very difficult to put this delicious wine down. Drink it now for its transparency and perfume, or allow it to develop savory complexity in bottle over the next decade."
Vinous: 95 Points
"The 2021 Pinot Noir Freestone-Occidental is outrageously beautiful. Rich, heady and explosive, the 2021 is captivating right out of the gate. Inky dark red fruit, blood orange, game, spice, cedar, pipe tobacco, pomegranate and exotic flowers build as this, dense, potent Pinot shows off its tremendous resonance and textural depth. Wow!" —Antonio Galloni
Jeb Dunnuck: 95 Points
"A youthful deep ruby, the 2021 Pinot Noir Freestone-Occidental is highly expressive with wild lavender, kirsch, and fresh mountain herbs. Full-bodied, with youthful suppleness to its fruit at this stage, it has the same fantastic salinity that’s present across this whole lineup Occidental."
Wine Spectator: 94 Points
"Steve Kistler’s namesake winery became synonymous with California Chardonnay decades ago. Since founding Occidental in 2011, he has become known for California Pinot Noir. With his daughter Catherine, Kistler farms 65 acres of Pinot Noir vines around their newest winery, in the recently created West Sonoma Coast AVA. Kistler’s parcels typify the extreme nature of this developing viticultural area—near the coast, high elevation, blanketed with morning fog and buffeted by afternoon winds. All of that results in yields generally in the skimpy 2 tons per acre range. The resulting wines, however, are anything but skimpy. This bottling brims with pure blackberry and black cherry fruit, enlivened by a light savory note, while an underlying mineral edge adds subtle tension throughout."