2010 Akiko's Cuvee Pinot Noir

Freeman’s 2010 Pinot Noir Akiko’s Cuvee is a barrel selection of the best lots in the cellar. Dark red cherries, crushed flowers, sweet herbs and spices all flesh out nicely in the glass. Here, too, the wine’s balance is impeccable. The style is a bit richer and more generous than most of the other wines in this range. There is plenty of immediacy here, but ultimately, the Akiko’s Cuvee is not that markedly different from the other wines in the range. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2018. Akiko Freeman originally studied Renaissance art in Florence. She brings a keen aesthetic sense to the wines she makes with her husband Ken and their consulting winemaker Ed Kurtzman. These delicate, refined wines are quite pretty, but my sense is that the best is yet to come, as Akiko Freeman is just at the beginning of her career as a winemaker. Tel. (707) 823-6937

Vivid red. Asian spices and red berries on the intensely perfumed nose and in the mouth. Silky and seamless in texture and alluringly sweet, offering nervy redcurrant and bitter cherry flavors that pick up weight with air. A suave floral note carries through the long, bright, sharply focused finish. (JR)