Freeman Winery’s winemaker Akiko Freeman
Ken and Akiko Freeman are the husband and wife behind the family-owned estate on the dynamic West Sonoma Coast. As the winemaker, Akiko’s role is to translate the climatic extremes of their dynamic coastal terroir into nuance and subtlety in their Pinot Noir.
Founded in 2001, Freeman’s winemaking has always aimed to produce elegant wines, eschewing ripeness for grace and sophistication. Akiko worked alongside consulting winemaker Ed Kurtzman before taking on the winemaking herself with the 2009 vintage. Akiko now works alongside Eiji Daniel Akaboshi, her associate winemaker, making for an all-Japanese winemaking team at Freeman. The two share a culture and approach to winemaking, and Brazilian-born Akaboshi has deep family roots in the Sonoma region. He is an ancestor of one of the region’s founding winemakers, Kanaye Nagasawa, who made wine in the area over 120 years ago.
Ken and Akiko Freeman, the husband and wife behind the family-owned estate on the dynamic West Sonoma Coast.
Pursuit of elegance
Having grown up in Tokyo, Akiko’s upbringing has influenced her pursuit of elegance in the wines she has made since the beginning. When the winery launched in 2001, it immediately leaned into a more refined style. While Sonoma County Pinot Noir and Chardonnay styles have since evolved towards finer, more delicate wines, that was not the predominant trend in California in the early 2000s.
‘When we first started,’ says Ken Freeman, ‘the
