2018 Occidental Freestone-Occidental Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 750 ml

A lot of wines claim cult status, few have actually earned it. The Occidental Pinot Noirs of Steve Kistler are amongst the few that make the cut, no questions asked. They are trend-setting, impeccably crafted, and almost impossible to get a hold of. 

Case in point: the Freestone-Occidental Pinot Noir, an immaculate coastal Pinot of the highest order, and the first Occidental wine ever offered on Wine Access. Antonio Galloni called it “a truly remarkable wine” of “total elegance and finesse.” 

And we barely got our hands on it. The “bright, focused and beautifully sculpted” 2018 was originally a restaurant-only wine, earmarked for a few fine dining establishments. But with the restaurant industry currently on pause, Kistler and the team at Occidental decided to make a few cases of this tiny-production gem available for wider release.

We didn’t hesitate to lock in every single bottle we could—a mere nine cases. This is a rare opportunity to skip both the winery mailing list and the restaurant markup and get straight to the singular magic of Steve Kistler-minted Pinot Noir. As Galloni wrote, “Readers who can find these wines should not hesitate, as they are positively brilliant.” 

It took nearly 30 years of meticulous effort to arrive at the world-class pedigree on display in the 2018 Freestone-Occidental. In the early ‘90s, Steve Kistler began propagating two clonal selections of Pinot Noir from Grand Cru vineyards in Burgundy’s famed Vosne-Romanée. Over the next decade, he meticulously cultivated their offspring, identifying which selections produced wine with the highest natural acidity, color, concentration, and finesse. Finally, he planted the best of the best throughout his Occidental vineyards. 

Those vines, which have now grown to maturity on the fog-shrouded, windswept slopes that constitute the western tip of the Sonoma Coast AVA, are the source of the 2018 Occidental Freestone-Occidental Pinot Noir. They are the reason Robert Parker, a consummate Steve Kistler fan, called his Pinot Noirs “historic.” 

As Antonio Galloni wrote, the 2018 Freestone-Occidental “captures the savory, energetic, saline style that is so typical of this part of the Sonoma Coast.” Its vibrant red cherry notes are kissed with red flowers, fresh herbs, and spice, elegantly supported by a backbone of lively acidity and chiseled tannins. 

This is a complete and eye-opening Pinot Noir from master Stever Kistler, available for the first time ever in extremely limited quantity today on Wine Access.