Can One purchase and have held for pick-up at a later date? I have business in Portland in December at some point. I was able to sample on our visit a couple weeks ago a would love to secure some for myself and a couple gifts. Excited to hear more about the entire program!
Absolutely!
PSA: I posted this in the WTSO thread earlier, but I’m guessing readers of this thread will also be interested to know that PGC ‘Marine Sedimentary’ Chehalem Mtn 2021 is currently up at WTSO for $23.99.
Happy hunting!
So, I knew I’d probably be opening this one wayyy too early, but I was tasting Walter Scott’s SVD ‘22 Freedom Hill Pinot over the weekend, and really wanted to do a side by side comparison.
Both wines are excellent and long agers with tremendous structure, especially the PGC. Dark fruits are the hallmark of Feedom Hill, but both use a light hand to avoid over extraction, which I appreciate.
Where the wines diverge significantly is stem inclusion. The Walter Scott is 100% de-stemmed, giving the wine a more fruity, fresh/pure overtone whereas the PGC is less fruit forward and shows more spice and a sort of meaty/savory quality. Both are really appealing, and show the effects of stems in a profound way. Oak on both is well integrated and similar proportions of new wood, just different coopers. Vintages are different too here, and I suspect that may be why the PGC has a good bit more tannic structure here with the ‘21.
All in all, both wines are excellent. My preference is toward the more savory PGC, but I’m going to let my next two bottles hang out in the cellar for a decade before I open the next one.
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Of the 6 Freedom Hill bottlings we do this one is generally the most “Freedom Hill-y” of them all. The Pommard block tends to produce very dark and robust Pinots even by the standards of the vineyard (I’m not sure where WS’s block is located; it’s a big vineyard). For years we only got 1 acre and because we had started off destemming it in 2012 and 2013 we were tentative about large changes to such a small amount of fruit. In 2019 we added an additional acre and that, along with some seriously bountiful vintages, has allowed us to really dig into a broader range of fermentations. I don’t have notes in front of me but I think this was a combination of 40% whole cluster with some destemmed stuff as well. I can look later and re-post if it’s different.
This wine is much more savory and structured, even when destemmed, than any other part of the vineyard. We get a block of Dijon 115 right next to it that is much easier going and red-fruited. I like this block and bottling a lot. The 2022 Perspicacious bottling comes from a 100% whole cluster fermentation from here. I’m a big fan of the 2021 which is Wadesnvil and I’m interested to compare the two at some point.
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Jim, I’m now 72hrs out from opening the ‘21 Freedom Hill Pommard Clone and it is absolutely stunning now (and it was already very good). A little softening of everything has really allowed the flavors and aromas to harmonize. This could easily pass for a Chambertin (at 10X price) in a blind tasting.
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Thanks for the kind words. Pretty much all the '21s are weirdly better 3-5 days down the road of being open. I stumbled across a bottle of the Estate Chardonnay I had forgotten in the fridge for almost a week and it was singing at over 100 hours of being open. Speaks well to the general quality of the vintage. The Freedom Hill Pommard has its fans but it has been less of a rock star for us in terms of instantly selling out than I always expect. The 2013 version (which we just had and was really delicious) Josh Reynolds (RIP) wrote in his review. "this is the only wine I have ever smelled that reminded me aromatically of the Echezeaux bottling from Henri Jayer-Gilles.” Never had the privilege but I have had my share of Chambertins and while that seems an outrageous comparison I won’t turn it down as a complement.
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2013 Patricia Green Pinot Noir Freedom Hill Dijon 115
BDVII purchase. Decant 1 hr. Really pretty crimson red color, surprisingly dark after 10 years. A beautiful beguiling nose that I could sniff all night: savory, earthy, cherry, black tea, orange peel, faint gunpowder? Taste: more of the savory, earthy, cherry notes with some acidity to keep it from feeling too old/soft. A really nice mature pinot that is drinking well.
Jim – any thoughts on holding this longer? Not sure I will have the willpower given how good this one was. Thanks for a great bottle of wine!
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The 13s have really been showing. I know a Freedom Hill Pommard recently opened at a dinner for a long-time customer performed at a super-high level. So there is that. I don’t see why this would start any sort of drop off in the near future. Of course, our track record on this wine only goes back to the 2012 vintage so I don’t have a larger body of evidence to draw from for comparison. I do think that our wines tend to be two plus decade wines but that isn’t across the board or vintages. However, given the pedigree of the site and the increasing realization that this is actually a really good vintage I should imagine this will hold for some time. But, smoke ‘em if you got ‘em isn’t a bad way to live either.
A good friend from whom I buy some Chassin barrels really loves this bottling and thinks it’s the top one we make from Freedom Hill. To each their own.
Thanks for the nice words, of course.
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Heck, I loved the 2021 Freedom Hill 115 on the pop n pour.
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I did pretty much just that with the 2021 Freedom Hill Dijon 115 last night. It was wonderful.
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We opened a 2021 Estate OV over the holiday weekend. just PnP’d it and it was great! opened up a bit as we drank it, but honestly it didnt last very long!
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Hard to go wrong with the 21s. The 22s that are coming out will probably be a little more opulent/red fruited/richly textured than the 21s. Maybe not as prodigious or dense but definitely fun and delicious wines.
Then there are the 23s…
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2008 Estate Etzel Block
This is just so damn good. It stands as a monument to Oregon funkiness; it is the liquid equivalent of Tower of Power’s Squib Cakes - a masterpiece of it’s genre.
Hat’s off to @Kirk.Grant for urging the purchase of this under threat of buying them all for himself.
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any suggestions for drinking order / windows for the 2018s?
I bought a mixed case on Berserker day a whiles back, tried a few of the early drinkers, read that I should be cellaring these, and tucked em away.
I still have 10: balcombe, coury clone hyland, 115 freedom hill, sedimentary, notorious, old vine estate, volcanic, wadensvil block, wadensvil clone freedom hill, and weber.
should I let them rest longer? Any I could pull? For some reason I’m itching to try another…
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It’s personal preference of course, but I don’t like to start pulling PGC corks until at least ten years after vintage date. The 2008/2010/2013s I’ve tried in the last year have all been in a great place. If you must open one soon, I’d opt for the Weber, Balcome, or Volcanic followed by the Marine Sedimentary or Old Vine Estate. I really wouldn’t touch the other ones.
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Just depends on what your tastes are. Those wines should be largely unchanged in their first 10-12 years and go through 20+ years without much issue. But they’ll taste just fine now.
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thanks to you and Chris for the responses. Still figuring out what my tastes are. Most importantly, wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing any windows. But, it sounds like back to the corner of the cellar they go for a while. I have other things to drink!
I’d open one now to see, and maybe give us a tasting note.
I still have a lone bottle of the 2005 PGC Etzel in magnum. Hopefully, when things settle down it will be time for another Boston off-line to open it. To me, this is one that really needs 12-15+ years to shine it’s brightest.