Akiko and Ken Freeman founded Freeman in 2001 after vetting 300 sites for a Burgundy vision. Their nine-acre Gloria Vineyard and fourteen-acre Yu-ki Estate sit at 1,000 feet, five miles from the Pacific. The Ryo-fu Chardonnay (cool breeze in Japanese) was served at the Obama White House for PM Abe.
Ken and Akiko Freeman founded their winery in 2001 with a Japanese sensibility — precision, restraint, and a deep respect for the material. Akiko Freeman, the winemaker, produces Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from estate and selected vineyard sites in Green Valley and the Sonoma Coast that are consistently among the most refined in California. The wines are defined by their delicacy, aromatic lift, and structural integrity — never overworked, never obvious. The estate cave tasting experience in Sebastopol, surrounded by redwoods, is one of wine country's most quietly exceptional experiences.
Akiko's Cuvée Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast — The flagship: a barrel-selection blend of the cellar's finest lots, chosen blind each vintage; rich, focused and elegant, it reached Wine Spectator's Top 100.
Keefer Ranch (KR Ranch) Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley — A single-vineyard bottling from old, sought-after Russian River vines.
Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir — Sourced from windswept coastal vineyards, concentrated yet balanced.
Russian River Valley Pinot Noir — A blend anchored by the estate Gloria Vineyard, ripe and ageworthy.
'Ryo-Fu' Chardonnay, Russian River Valley — 'Cool breeze' in Japanese; a graceful, balanced Chardonnay from prized Green Valley sites.
Ken and Akiko Freeman founded the winery in 2001, planting the Gloria and Yu-Ki estate vineyards on the cool western edge of the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast. Akiko serves as winemaker, crafting elegant, small-production Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Akiko and Ken Freeman founded the winery in 2001 after searching through more than 300 vineyard sites to find cool-climate sources worthy of their Burgundy-inspired vision. Their estate vineyards — the 9-acre Gloria Vineyard adjacent to the winery and the 14-acre Yu-ki Estate, 5 miles from the Pacific above Occidental at 1,000-foot elevation — produce single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay of precision and restraint. The Ryo-fu Chardonnay (Japanese for "cool breeze") was served at the Obama White House during Japanese Prime Minister Abe's visit in 2015. The Sebastopol tasting experience is intimate: the Winery Cave or the Redwood Grove next to Gloria Vineyard, with a focused seated tasting of single-vineyard wines. Ed Kurtzman consults on winemaking; Akiko leads as winemaker. Appointments required; tasting fees waived with six-bottle purchase.
Tokyo-born winemaker whose path to Sonoma County wine was as unlikely as it is now distinguished. Akiko earned a master's degree in Italian Renaissance art history from Stanford in the mid-1990s before traveling to the great winemaking regions of Europe and South Africa with her husband Ken, whom she had met in New York in 1985 during Hurricane Gloria — a date (September 28, 1985) now engraved on the keystone of their winery cave. When Ken and Akiko founded Freeman Vineyard & Winery in 2001 after vetting more than 300 vineyard sites in western Sonoma County, Akiko apprenticed under their founding consulting winemaker Ed Kurtzman; she took over as sole winemaker with the 2009 vintage. She now oversees every aspect of the program: the organic farming of the Gloria Estate Vineyard (planted 2006 in Green Valley, named for the hurricane that brought her and Ken together) and the Yu-ki Estate (purchased 2007 above Occidental at 1,000-foot elevation, named for her cousin), plus careful grower partnerships across the West Sonoma Coast. Her style is defined by restraint: 5 to 8 percent whole cluster, a maximum of 30% new oak in a given vintage, traditional production techniques, and all wines bottled unfined and unfiltered. The Ryo-fu Chardonnay (Japanese for “cool breeze”) was served at the Obama White House for Japanese Prime Minister Abe in 2015. Associate winemaker Eiji Daniel Akaboshi — a descendant of Kanae Nagasawa, the Japanese immigrant who helped found California winemaking in the late 1800s — makes for a uniquely Japanese winemaking team. Ken and Akiko co-founded the West Sonoma Coast Vintners Association in 2011, which successfully lobbied for the West Sonoma Coast AVA approved in 2019.
Ken Freeman co-founded Freeman Vineyard & Winery in 2001 with his wife Akiko, the winery’s winemaker. A Kellogg MBA who helped build the Discovery Channel in Asia before a career in finance, Ken brought the entrepreneurial drive — and a shared love of Burgundy — that turned a long-held dream into reality. The couple searched some 300 sites before acquiring a small Sebastopol winery in the Russian River Valley, dedicating themselves to refined, cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Their flagship, Akiko’s Cuvée, has helped earn Freeman a global following.
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Akiko's Cuvée Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast — The flagship: a barrel-selection blend of the cellar's finest lots, chosen blind each vintage; rich, focused and elegant, it reached Wine Spectator's Top 100.
Keefer Ranch (KR Ranch) Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley — A single-vineyard bottling from old, sought-after Russian River vines.
Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir — Sourced from windswept coastal vineyards, concentrated yet balanced.
Russian River Valley Pinot Noir — A blend anchored by the estate Gloria Vineyard, ripe and ageworthy.
'Ryo-Fu' Chardonnay, Russian River Valley — 'Cool breeze' in Japanese; a graceful, balanced Chardonnay from prized Green Valley sites.
Ken and Akiko Freeman founded the winery in 2001, planting the Gloria and Yu-Ki estate vineyards on the cool western edge of the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast. Akiko serves as winemaker, crafting elegant, small-production Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Ken and Akiko Freeman founded their winery in 2001 with a Japanese sensibility — precision, restraint, and a deep respect for the material. Akiko Freeman, the winemaker, produces Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from estate and selected vineyard sites in Green Valley and the Sonoma Coast that are consistently among the most refined in California. The wines are defined by their delicacy, aromatic lift, and structural integrity — never overworked, never obvious. The estate cave tasting experience in Sebastopol, surrounded by redwoods, is one of wine country's most quietly exceptional experiences.
Akiko and Ken Freeman founded the winery in 2001 after searching through more than 300 vineyard sites to find cool-climate sources worthy of their Burgundy-inspired vision. Their estate vineyards — the 9-acre Gloria Vineyard adjacent to the winery and the 14-acre Yu-ki Estate, 5 miles from the Pacific above Occidental at 1,000-foot elevation — produce single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay of precision and restraint. The Ryo-fu Chardonnay (Japanese for "cool breeze") was served at the Obama White House during Japanese Prime Minister Abe's visit in 2015. The Sebastopol tasting experience is intimate: the Winery Cave or the Redwood Grove next to Gloria Vineyard, with a focused seated tasting of single-vineyard wines. Ed Kurtzman consults on winemaking; Akiko leads as winemaker. Appointments required; tasting fees waived with six-bottle purchase.
Tokyo-born winemaker whose path to Sonoma County wine was as unlikely as it is now distinguished. Akiko earned a master's degree in Italian Renaissance art history from Stanford in the mid-1990s before traveling to the great winemaking regions of Europe and South Africa with her husband Ken, whom she had met in New York in 1985 during Hurricane Gloria — a date (September 28, 1985) now engraved on the keystone of their winery cave. When Ken and Akiko founded Freeman Vineyard & Winery in 2001 after vetting more than 300 vineyard sites in western Sonoma County, Akiko apprenticed under their founding consulting winemaker Ed Kurtzman; she took over as sole winemaker with the 2009 vintage. She now oversees every aspect of the program: the organic farming of the Gloria Estate Vineyard (planted 2006 in Green Valley, named for the hurricane that brought her and Ken together) and the Yu-ki Estate (purchased 2007 above Occidental at 1,000-foot elevation, named for her cousin), plus careful grower partnerships across the West Sonoma Coast. Her style is defined by restraint: 5 to 8 percent whole cluster, a maximum of 30% new oak in a given vintage, traditional production techniques, and all wines bottled unfined and unfiltered. The Ryo-fu Chardonnay (Japanese for “cool breeze”) was served at the Obama White House for Japanese Prime Minister Abe in 2015. Associate winemaker Eiji Daniel Akaboshi — a descendant of Kanae Nagasawa, the Japanese immigrant who helped found California winemaking in the late 1800s — makes for a uniquely Japanese winemaking team. Ken and Akiko co-founded the West Sonoma Coast Vintners Association in 2011, which successfully lobbied for the West Sonoma Coast AVA approved in 2019.
Ken Freeman co-founded Freeman Vineyard & Winery in 2001 with his wife Akiko, the winery’s winemaker. A Kellogg MBA who helped build the Discovery Channel in Asia before a career in finance, Ken brought the entrepreneurial drive — and a shared love of Burgundy — that turned a long-held dream into reality. The couple searched some 300 sites before acquiring a small Sebastopol winery in the Russian River Valley, dedicating themselves to refined, cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Their flagship, Akiko’s Cuvée, has helped earn Freeman a global following.
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