Occidental Pinot Noir Freestone
| Vintage: | 2021 |
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| Description: | Winemaker Notes\r\nThe 2021 Freestone-Occidental wine shares the same winemaking techniques as our vineyard designated pinot noirs. Crystalline, bright, mouthwatering, and a bit salty with a saline mineral finish, the 2021 Freestone-Occidental evokes juicy red berries and a near perfect balance of finesse and energy \u2013 of bright, primary red fruits and saline elements. It conveys outstanding precision and lift in the mouth and finishes vibrant and long with beautifully sculpted tannins. Its modest alcohol (13.3%) makes this wine a perfect complement to any meal. It is delicious now and will develop nicely in bottle.\r\nThe Freestone-Occidental pinot noir includes a blend of fruit from our Bodega Headlands, Occidental Station, and Bodega Ridge vineyards. It also shares the same winemaking techniques as our vineyard-designated pinot noirs. All our pinot noirs are fermented with native yeasts and native Malo-Lactic bacteria.\r\nThis bottling expresses the same energy, precision, and purity of flavor that gives all of Occidental\u2019s wines lift and perfume, along with the deeper soil tones that contribute to its complexity. Made entirely from free-run juice, it is delicious now and will develop nicely in bottle. Currently available in restaurants and selected retail stores.\r\nAbout Occidental Wines\r\n\r\nFrom Winemaker Stephen Kistler. Steve Kistler received a B.a. in Creative Writing from Stanford University, studied at U.c. Davis for one year, and was an assistant at Ridge Vineyards for two years before founding Kistler Vineyards in 1978.\r\nThe Occidental wines are produced from vineyards on a southwest-facing ridge overlooking the Pacific Ocean, just outside the town of Bodega. This ridge and the surrounding headlands mark the western edge of the Freestone-Occidental area and are among the coldest and latest ripening sites where pinot noir is grown in western Sonoma.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe Occidental pinot noirs are crystalline wines with vivid aromatics and intense red fruit flavors. They have a wonderfully chiseled quality, layered with savory and mineral character.\r\nThe beauty of these maritime sites and the challenging conditions these vineyards face \u2013 all of this is reflected in the Occidental wines.\r\nWinemaking\r\nOur picking decisions are based on flavor, physiological maturity, and on natural acidity and pH to preserve freshness and energy. All fruit is harvested at night and arrives cool at the winery the next morning at 50-55 F. The fruit is carefully sorted as clusters before de-stemming and then as individual berries a second time with the goal of leaving the maximum number of uncrushed whole berries in each fermenter.\r\nEach vineyard block is fermented separately to capture as much individual site character as possible in fermenters that are two to four tons in size. The fruit is not intentionally cold soaked prior to fermentation. The ambient temperature in the fermentation rooms is around 60-65 F, which allows the fruit to warm gradually. This activates the native yeasts, and fermentation begins in 7-9 days and is complete in less than three weeks. Punch downs are used only as needed to distribute the heat of fermentation, ensuring a gentle extraction.\r\nEach fermentation generates its own momentum and strength, peaks at its own maximum temperature, and then proceeds to dryness at its own pace with little or no refrigeration. This simple approach to fermentation allows the wine from each vineyard block to develop its own set of aromas and flavors.\r\nAfter fermentation is complete, the tanks are drained and only the free-run wine is transferred by gravity to Francois Freres barrels (25% new) to age in a naturally cold underground cellar. Occidental does not own a press and sells its must for other wineries to press.\r\nNative malolactic fermentations usually begin by the end of December and are complete by late spring of the following year. The wine remains unracked until November when it is moved directly to bottling tank and bottled unfined and unfiltered with a minimum level of So2. |
| Price: | $ 64.99 |
| Price in original currency: | None |
Available from BASSER’S Fine Wine
| Address: |
6240 Coral Ridge Drive Coral Springs, FL 33076 United States |
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| Telephone (regular): | 954-840-3122 |
First added to 1000 Corks on February 12, 2023.
