#8 TOP 100 CELLAR SELECTIONS 2019 - Wine Enthusiast
96-Points by Wine Enthusiast.
This gorgeous wine shows an expressive wild-cherry aroma, a vibrant and pure black-cherry flavor and a firm, fine-grained texture for an enticing mouthfeel. Touches of mineral and iron in the aroma, and hints of rhubarb and forest floor in the flavor give it exciting breadth and complexity. Best after 2023.
 
Freeman’s Gloria Estate is the hillside vineyard adjacent to our winery. We named our estate vineyard for the hurricane that brought Ken and Akiko Freeman together in 1985. Ken was on a sailboat headed south, into the Atlantic, when Hurricane Gloria forced Ken and crew to beat their way landward and spend the night in port. That evening they went to a party, where the best-dressed woman there was a stylish beauty named Akiko. The rest, as they say, is history. The other important Gloria reference is to the woman of the same name who sold Ken and Akiko several acres next to our property. Part of our vineyard lies on Gloria’s old apple orchard. In 2008 we planted our eight-acre Gloria estate vineyard to the heritage clones Swan, Calera, Martini, Pommard and Dijon 115. Today, Akiko Freeman works closely with our vineyard team to make all the decisions at Gloria—a site not easy to farm, with its very steep hillsides and different exposures, from the top of the hill to the bottom.
Jim Pratt’s vineyard on Sexton Road made up 35% of the blend with Dijon  clone 777 and Swiss clone 2A, also known as Wadenswil. The KR Ranch,  formerly known as Keefer, made up 18% of the Russian River blend in 2021  with the Swiss clone 23—also known as Mariafeld—and additional Dijon  777. Freeman has been using Pratt fruit since 2005 and KR since 2004.
 
   Historic Award for Akiko Freeman: The Green & White Medal for Agricultural Excellence
Akiko Freeman was recently honored with the Green & White Medal for Agricultural Excellence, becoming the first woman ever to receive this prestigious accolade. The ceremony, held at the Japanese Consul General’s residence in Los Angeles, recognized her for being the first Japanese winemaker with a wine served at the White House and her transformative approach to organic farming. Shinkichki Koyama, who presented the award, said of Akiko, “She worked very hard to achieve the best growing conditions on the property — irrigation, ensuring that the soil was well-drained and well-oxygenated — all with the long-term vision to produce better grapes under organic farming protocols.”