Freedom of the Press Paradox White Pinot Noir 2021

This special and small-batch still white wine is made by pressing (red) Pinot Noir grapes very gently so as not to extract colour from the skins – the flesh itself is green-white. It was fermented and aged for 10 months in old (mellow) oak barrels. The resulting wine, which is a lovely light copper colour, has notes of baked apple and pear, some red fruit and roses, spice and something a bit more ‘earthy’. The palate is fairly full with a hint of creaminess, and balancing but not overbearing acidity. It will age well, and certainly will continue to develop in bottle.

Freedom of the Press is a winery in the Cotswolds. The original plan was to establish an ‘urban winery’ in Oxford with no vineyards of their own, buying the best grapes from across the country. They would operate more like an in-town micro brewery or boutique distillery than what most people think of as a vineyard. So that was the plan – they had a venue selected and then in early Spring 2020 Covid took control of everybody’s lives, and the Oxford venue fell through. But just as it looked like it was curtains for the project they found a new home, a unit on a beautiful farm above Minster Lovell in the Cotswolds, 15 miles from Oxford.