The 2009 Chardonnay Freestone Vineyards wraps around the palate with tangerine, mint, honeysuckle and French oak notes. This is an especially ripe, juicy style for the Sonoma Coast, but it works. The relatively up-front expression of fruit suggests the wine is best enjoyed sooner rather than later. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2016. I was deeply impressed with the wines I tasted from Joseph Phelps’s Freestone property on the Sonoma Coast. The Pinots are made with some whole clusters, but it is the distinctive personality of the Calera clones that seems to define those wines. The Chardonnays are both done in a full malolactic style. The Pastorale sees a little bit more time in oak and also gets a slightly higher percentage of new barrels. These beautiful Chardonnays and Pinots deserve considerable attention. The 2010 Chardonnays were scheduled to be bottled in March 2012. Tel. (707) 963-2745

Presents with equal parts crisp acidity, buttered toast new oak and ripe pineapple and kumquat fruit. The result is big and flashy, but a little Frankensteinian. ——S.H.(12/31/2011)—— 89