Freestone Vineyards: 2009 a Year to Remember

By Theresa Heredia, Winemaker

Freestone’s 2009 harvest crew. Winemaker Theresa Heredia is third from left in the front row.

It is October 21st and the production team has heaved a big sigh of relief today with the arrival of our last load of fruit, approximately four tons of Pastorale Chardonnay. The season is officially over!

The 2009 harvest was cool, slow and steady, but the grapes and clusters were small and ripened quickly, yielding wines with tremendous aroma and overall balance. Berry set was small this year due to a hot spell during flowering, thus the crop size and yields were small, producing wines with good concentration and tannin.

Because the summer was moderate and the weather during harvest was warm but not hot, we managed to hit the bull’s-eye with sugar and acid levels right where we wanted them. Consequently, the wines are all between 12.5 and 14% alcohol, with great acidity and beautifully balanced phenolic structure. Because of the relatively low alcohol levels, the wines all have enticing red and black fruit and floral aromas adding to the complexity in the glass.

The season began for us in August with the arrival of our long-awaited harvest interns. This year we had a fantastic and experienced group of interns from several parts of the world, including Richard Bord from Paris, France; Natalie Dale from Novato, CA; Adrien Despres from the north of France; Sorcha Gillen from Western Australia; Paul-Gabriel Guyard from the Champagne region of France; Andy Laird from Santa Rosa, CA; Joel Robledo Jr. from Windsor, CA and son of our vineyard supervisor; and Jenna Rousseau from Arizona, doing her very first harvest. Each one of them has contributed a unique perspective and different level of experience, which keeps the production staff abreast of cultural differences and new winemaking techniques from around the world.

Pinot Noir harvest got off to an early start on September 1st, but the moderate weather allowed us to pick leisurely until a small heat spike during the 3rd week of September. We scrambled a bit during that week but still managed to get all of the Pinot Noir harvested at or near our target sugar and acid levels.

Freestone Estate Chardonnay held on well in the moderate weather and continued ripening evenly until it was picked on September 22nd.

The 2009 vintage – long, slow, gradual, beautiful – will become a winemaking year to remember, and we have high expectations of meeting the goals of the Freestone Vineyards mission statement, which is to produce naturally-made and natively-fermented wines with balance, finesse and coastal characteristics that are authentic to the site.