2023 Chardonnay, Freedom Hill Vineyard, St. Innocent
The original Friday the 13th saves its best trick for the final minutes, when something rises out of a lake everyone assumed was safely at rest. Freedom Hill Vineyard has a quieter version of the same move: its soil is an ancient seabed that got shoved up into the foothills of Oregon’s Coast Range, about ten miles southwest of Salem, and the vines — first planted in 1982 — have been drinking from it ever since. Warm air rising off the valley floor ripens the fruit by day; cool ocean breezes at night keep the acidity sharp. Mark Vlossak founded St. Innocent in 1988, named it for his father (a wine importer), and has been making Chardonnay from this hillside since 1992. These days a number of Oregon’s top producers bottle Freedom Hill on its own. Mark’s been at it since the early nineties.
The facts
100% Chardonnay from Freedom Hill Vineyard, Mt. Pisgah AVA (Polk County), Willamette Valley
Old marine sedimentary soils — an uplifted ancient seabed
In recent vintages: whole-cluster pressed, fermented in barrel with native yeasts, malolactic fermentation completed naturally
Aged on the lees in French oak (eleven months in recent vintages)
Best served cool, not ice-cold
In the glass
Straw-gold in the glass, opening with ripe yellow peach, warm brioche, a pinch of nutmeg, and the baked-apple warmth of something just out of the oven. The palate is dense but never heavy — red apple, white peach, a spoonful of lemon curd — with a stony, mineral spine that keeps everything upright and acidity that keeps pulling you back for another sip. It finishes long and clean, the stone and citrus hanging around well after the richness has made its point.
Pair it with
Roast chicken, mushroom pizza, or a bowl of rich soup will all suit it. Ideal for a cabin weekend, provided nobody wanders down to the lake.
2023 “La Chapelle” Rouge, Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence, Château Pigoudet
The Exorcist and The Omen agree on at least one thing: when a church gets involved, brace yourself. So it’s worth knowing that Château Pigoudet, a country estate north of Aix-en-Provence, belonged to the city’s bishopric in the sixteenth century, and that its red is called La Chapelle. Relax. The only thing that happens after dark here is the harvest, which is done by machine, at night, because cool grapes make fresher wine — a perfectly sensible explanation for what sounds like a horror-movie premise. The vineyard is the northernmost in the Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence appellation: about 100 acres facing due south at roughly 1,300 feet, in the shadow of Mont Sainte-Victoire, on clay and limestone. Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah split the blend fifty-fifty, and the result is a Provençal red with more backbone than the region’s rosé-and-sunshine reputation suggests.
The facts
50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 50% Syrah
Clay-limestone soils; south-facing vineyard at roughly 400 meters (about 1,300 feet)
Night-harvested by machine; fermented at a controlled 25°C
Aged in oak barrels
14.5% ABV
Best served slightly cool, around 61–63°F
In the glass
Deep ruby with garnet glints at the rim. The nose opens on ripe dark-fruit compote, then smoke, cocoa, and a hint of praline drift in from the edges, like something cooking in the next room. The attack is bold, the flavors echoing the nose with a spicier edge, and the finish brings oak and structure — firm, grippy, and in no hurry to leave.
Pair it with
Serve it slightly cool with braised short ribs, roast lamb, or a burger with serious cheese. Priests optional.
2023 Etna Rosso DOC, Cottanera
Freddy Krueger’s headquarters is a boiler room — furnaces, pipes, and fire as far as the eye can see. Cottanera’s vineyards occupy the closest thing the wine world has to one: the northern slope of Mount Etna, one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. In 1962, Francesco Cambria bought roughly 250 acres of vineyards and hazelnut groves near Randazzo, Sicily, as an escape from his career in Messina. His son Guglielmo built a winery in the late 1980s and sold the wine by the jug to locals and restaurants; later, alongside his brother Enzo, he began the harder work of proving what Etna could do. They tried international grapes first — Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah — before landing on the native ones, and in 2005 the estate released its first Etna Rosso DOC. Today Guglielmo’s children, Mariangela, Francesco, and Emanuele, run the place with their uncle Enzo, still farming on the volcano’s north side, still not afraid of a little fire.
The facts
100% Nerello Mascalese, Etna’s signature red grape, from four contrade (named vineyard districts) in Castiglione di Sicilia: Cottanera, Diciassettesalme, Feudo di Mezzo, and Zottorinoto
Vines 25–30 years old, at 670–770 meters (about 2,200–2,500 feet) on lava-alluvial and clay soils
Destemmed; fermented at a controlled 27–28°C with a long skin maceration of up to about 25 days
Malolactic fermentation and roughly ten months to a year in stainless steel; no oak
Best served slightly cool
In the glass
Bright ruby with garnet glints. The nose is crunchy red cherry, wild herbs, and baking spice, with a twist of white pepper. The palate is medium-bodied and velvety but never sleepy — fine tannins and fresh acidity keep the middle of the glass lively — and the finish is precise, peppery, and clean.
Pair it with
Reach for it alongside pizza, grilled sausages, or fried chicken, all of which it handles with ease. The acidity guarantees nobody at the table will doze off, which is a real asset on Elm Street.
2025 Chenin Blanc, Lieu Dit
Horror movies love a friendly place name: Haddonfield, Elm Street, Crystal Lake. Nothing sets off alarm bells quite like a town sign that sounds pleasant. The vineyard behind this Chenin Blanc is called Happy Canyon, and it deserves none of the suspicion. Lieu Dit — French for a named vineyard site, a place with a name and a character — was founded in 2011 by Eric Railsback and Justin Willett, two Santa Barbara friends who spent years drinking Loire Valley wines and traveling to France before deciding to grow the Loire’s grapes at home. They built the whole project around those varieties — Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Franc — on the theory that Santa Barbara County’s ocean-influenced soils and varied microclimates would suit them. Chenin Blanc, for its part, is the genre’s final girl: acidity that survives almost anything, the last one standing when the credits roll and, usually, the smartest in the room. Think Laurie Strode in Halloween, but with better stone fruit.
The facts
100% Chenin Blanc from Happy Canyon Vineyard (Block 1B), Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Barbara County
Practicing organic; fine sandy loam with chert and serpentine rock
Fermented and macerated in stainless steel; roughly half the blend refined in French barriques for 12 months
Aged in neutral French oak over the winter, then moved to stainless steel in the spring
12.5% ABV
Best served chilled
In the glass
Pale and bright in the glass. The nose opens with honeysuckle, flint, and ripe pear, then drifts into apricot, almond blossom, and a little beeswax. The palate has texture — a touch of waxy richness — kept moving by balanced, steady acidity, and the finish stays clean and fresh.
Pair it with
Pour it with crab cakes, herby grilled chicken, or a cheese board. And if your friendly neighbors turn up with homemade dessert, remember how Rosemary’s Baby went. The wine, however, is perfectly safe.