2011 Syrah Napa Valley

Two thousand eleven was the first time that the team here had to sort their Freestone chardonnay, owing to the cold, damp late-season weather, said director of winemaking Damian Parker. "And it's a good thing 2012 brought good conditions because we had full, tight clusters and rain would have been brutal." Parker rates 2009 and 2012 as the best recent vintages for pinot at Freestone and considers 2013 outstanding for chardonnay. The top 2011 cabernet-based wines here are not particularly fleshy by Napa Valley standards but offer noteworthy energy. Winemaker Ashley Hepworth compared the 2011 Insignia to the 2005 at the same stage, but noted that the 2005 was riper.