the story of how one wine survived the California wildfires of 2020

It was 2020. Northern California was already burning, and in wine country a different threat had arrived before the fire did. Smoke can blow over vineyards for days, even weeks, settling over the fruit long before flames ever touch the land. That was the nightmare of 2020. Smoke taint was the fear hanging over everything. Pinot Noir is delicate, and smoke can permeate the grape skins. Once that happens, the finished wine can carry harsh notes of ash, smoke, and burnt wood.

And smoke taint is not an easy fix. There are steps wineries can take during winemaking to try to reduce those compounds, but none come without compromise. The treatments are expensive, which drives up the cost of the bottle. They can also strip out the wine’s own natural compounds, taking flavor, texture, and structure with them. And even then, no current process can remove every trace of smoke taint. Worse still, some of those compounds can break down as the wine ages in bottle, releasing even more faulty character over time. There is no real win when it comes to smoke taint.

Meanwhile, the Walbridge Fire and Meyers Fire sent smoke across Sonoma County, where it hovered over the vineyards for the next three weeks. Wineries all over Sonoma saw their efforts go up in smoke, including Freeman Vineyard & Winery. The KR Ranch, Pratt, and Sonoma Coast vineyards, including Yu-ki Estate, were too smoky to produce usable grapes at all. But the fruit at Gloria Estate was just about ready. It became a race against the clock. Winemaker Akiko Freeman sent samples to the lab and got the all clear: no detectable smoke taint. So even though the grapes were a little early, Akiko and her team harvested immediately, before the smoke could take hold.

That is what makes this bottle a survivor, but also a piece of history. It is a time capsule from a year that showed just how harrowing winemaking has become in an age of climate crisis. Despite the ordeal, what made it into the bottle is something remarkably graceful. Expect notes of red rose, cherry, and strawberry, with a touch of iron and walnut. The wine feels firm yet elegant, shaped by moderate acidity, silky tannins, and a kiss of oak on the finish.

This bottle is also a testament to winemaker Akiko Freeman, whose precision, instinct, and care helped save something extraordinary in the face of an impossible season. At Freeman Vineyard & Winery, that care extends beyond the cellar. The winery has long farmed with sustainability in mind, and more recently earned organic certification for its Gloria and Yu-ki estate vineyards while also moving to lighter-weight bottles and eliminating tin capsules to cut waste. Lighter bottles matter because less glass means lower emissions, especially in production and shipping.

What makes this bottle special is not just how little of it exists, but how narrowly it came to exist at all. With such small production, this wine typically retails for $70–$100.
We are offering it for $49