Freedom Hill, Pinot Noir, 2021

Name: Freedom Hill, Pinot Noir
Brand: Walter Scott
Price: 63.29 GBP

Available Vintages

all 2021 2022

justerini & brooks tasting note

Riper cherry with slightly darker fruit set against floral highlights. There’s some real density here, with a textural gripping quality that plays off the succulent fruit beautifully as layers of bramble and black plum grace the palate. A velvety Pinot with plenty of seductive depth. From a dry farmed, organic vineyard planted in 1981, situated in the foothills of the Oregon Coast range on Bellpine loam soils.

critic reviews

94/100Eric Guido,Vinous

Stony, with savory herbs and dusty dried strawberries, the 2021 Pinot Noir Temperance Hill Vineyard makes itself known in the glass. It's silky-smooth and medium-bodied in weight with crisp red berry fruits contrasted by a hint of tangerine. Staying and long with a citrus saturation, it drenches the palate with youthful concentration. It finishes long yet only lightly tannic with a lingering air of lavender.

DRINKING WINDOW 2025 - 2033

date of review 01/2024

95-97/100Erin Brooks,Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2021 Freedom Hill Pinot Noir from barrel has a medium ruby-purple color and scents of cranberry, pomegranate and orange peel, unfolding to accents of pipe tobacco, tar, tea leaves and dried herbs. The light-bodied palate is delicately styled, offering fragrant, crunchy fruit, soft, grainy tannins and bright bursts of acidity.

date of review 03/2023

product details

2021 is a classic vintage at Walter Scott, where husband and wife team Ken and Erica continue to turn the dial in their efforts to produce great Oregon Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. “With the exception of the heat dome that hit right around flowering time, this was a vintage that was dry and warm and relatively straightforward” Ken explained. “We started picking on August 21st and continued for 5 weeks. September was stress free, we could harvest at our leisure, plus there was no wine from the 2020s, so you had all the time you wanted AND all the space you needed in winery. Some cuvees were barrelled down before others were picked”.

The wines, as a result, have a measure of precision we’ve perhaps not seen before, with crunchy ripe fruit, fresh acids and plenty of succulence. They bear none of the hallmarks of a warm vintage, and all of the nuance and drive we’ve come to expect from this excellent outfit.

Tweaks in the winery saw all whites being crushed prior to pressing, no sulphur in the press pans, and more solids than ever before taken to tank to enhance the texture and grip of the Chardonnays.

The reds are bittersweet, perfumed and high definition, largely red fruited, with complex mineral undertones and plenty of torque and detail.

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