The Freya Hermann Cuvée is named for Chris and Kathryn Hermann’s daughter, and sits at the apex of the 00 Wines family of Chardonnays alongside the Kathryn and Richard Hermann Cuvée bottlings. These wines are assembled each year from the finest barrels of the finest single-vineyard sites, identified during barrel selection as superior to the already demanding standards of the EGW and single-origin tiers. The Freya was the first Hermann Family Cuvée to attract national attention, when James Suckling included the 2017 vintage in his annual Top 100 USA Wines list, confirming 00 Wines as a producer of international stature.

The 2023 vintage produced Freya Hermann Cuvée Chardonnay of compelling intensity and mineral character, reflecting both the outstanding balance of the growing season and the exceptional quality of the source barrels selected for this ultra-prestige cuvée. Vinous’s Eric Guido, who reviewed the wine alongside the full 2023 00 Wines range, awarded it 98 points and described a profile of “smoky crushed rocks, cardamom, ginger-tinged nectarine, dusty flowers, saline resonance and a lingering sensation of liquid stone.” This combination of power and delicacy, seasoned by the reductive house style, is the hallmark of the finest Hermann Family Cuvée releases.

The Freya’s position at the top of the 00 Wines hierarchy has been consistent across multiple recent vintages: it earned 98 points from James Suckling in 2017, 98 again in both 2018 and 2022, and now 98 from Vinous in 2023. The International Wine Report awarded the 2023 Freya 99 points, recognising it as one of the finest American Chardonnays of the vintage. Such a consistent critical record, built within ten years of the project’s first release, places 00 Wines among the most exciting and rapidly evolving estates in the New World wine landscape.

Packed with personality and tension, showing smoky crushed rocks, cardamom, ginger-tinged nectarine, dusty flowers, saline resonance and a lingering sensation of liquid stone.  — Vinous