Beaux Freres Pinot noir Estate 07
The 2007 Beaux Freres Estate Pinot noir -
Regular Price $79.95
Dark ruby-colored, the 2007 Estate offers an intense, sweet scent of black raspberry and cherry, wild strawberry, herb, earth, and dried flowers. Tasting the wine, a silky cream texture introduces flavors of blackberry, black raspberry, and black cherry. The rich, plump fruit is accented by subtle notes of sweet earth, truffle, Asian spice, and dried field herbs.
Fleshy, plush, and charming, the 2007 Estate is medium bodied, gaining weight and depth with decanting. Good acidity and ripe tannins are well proportioned for cellaring - the winery suggests that the wine will evolve for 10-12 years. - Avalon
Tanzer 92 Points "Vivid red. Bright red berry and cherry aromas are complicated by dried rose and brown spices. Tangy, sharply focused red fruits on the palate, with slow-mounting spiciness and building power. Silky tannins add grip to the very long, seamless finish. This gained weight with air but maintained admirable vivacity and clarity."
This wine is dark ruby in color with a pure sweet nose of black cherries, a hint of strawberry and white flowers along with a waft of forest floor. Some of the characteristics remind us of the 2005 vintage- the vivid aromatics, plush, sleek texture and the seamless integration of acidity, tannin, alcohol and wood.
This is a Pinot Noir at its sexiest and most feminine. Still, it is a medium to full bodied wine of substance and surprising length. Somewhat reminiscent of the 1995 but far more concentrated fruit and to our mind dramatically better wine. We attribute this to the extensive work in the vineyard and the experience we have gained in the twelve years that have elapsed. This wine may be drunk in its youth, but has the concentration and balance to age gracefully for 10-15 years. -the Winery
What do you get when you mix an old pig farm with the wine expertise of Robert Parker, Jr.? Exceptional Oregon Pinot Noir, of course. Parker, along with his brother-in-law Michael Etzel and third partner Robert Roy realized their goal of creating premium Pinot with their first vintage in 1991. Their estate property, the old pig farm, is 24 acres of tightly-spaced, low-yielding vines on the steep slopes of Ribbon Ridge in Northern Willamette Valley. Winemaking philosophy and technique follow a commitment to minimal intervention, with native yeast fermentations and only one racking prior to bottling. All the wines are unfined and unfiltered. The wine remains in French oak for a period of 10-12 months, in varying proportions of new wood depending on the strength of the vintage. Because of the "reductive" winemaking style, which keeps the wine away from oxygen as much as possible, Beaux Freres Pinots are made for bottle age. The end result is a true expression of prime Willamette terrior. -the Winery
MORE INFORMATION
Previous Vintage tasting notes
2006 Vintage Tasting Notes
The most seductive, mouthfilling Beaux Freres Pinot noir to date. Let the fanfare begin!
It's an orchestra of mixed fruits, all delivered in a superbly textured wine with massive amounts of rich glycerin. Big doses of spicy red currant provide a lift to the aromas and flavors, elevating and celebrating the dense earth notes so typical in the Beaux Freres Estate. Savory herbs appear briefly as if to announce the finish, then the full chorus of fruit shows off again. The toasty oak is perfectly integrated, letting the ripe fruit sing out.
From the winery:
The 2006 vintage is a beautiful year of ripeness, and the 2006 Beaux Freres Vineyard shows the exceptional maturity of the grapes and the tannins. Deep ruby/purple-tinged to the rim, with a sweet, ripe nose of black raspberry, kirsch, with some underbrush and spice notes (any evidence of new oak casks is completely obscured by the wine's fruit). The wine cuts a broad savory path on the palate and has relatively elevated glycerin and sweet fruit which tends to obscure and hide the significant tannin. This is a very full-bodied, powerful style but also has a seamless integration of fruit, acidity, wood, tannin and alcohol. It's a beauty and can be drunk young, although we envision this wine hitting its peak in 5-7 years and lasting for 15-20. It is the sexiest, most hedonistic wine from this vineyard site to date. For that reason, we think it is among the finest wines we have ever produced.
Tasting Notes 2005 Vintage
Wine Spectator 93 points "Although 2005 was a difficult vintage, Beaux Freres made a beauty out of its own vineyard. Firm at first, it then blossoms into a panorama of flavors, fanning out its raspberry cream flavors, hinting at floral, mineral, green tea and Asian spice notes as the finish picks up steam. Not a big wine, but it has many layers to explore. Best from 2009 through 2015. From Oregon." -H.S.
Avalon Tasting Notes
Tasted in January 2007, the nose of the Estate was restrained at first, then showing a perfume of violets, red and black berries, toast, and sweet earth. Hints of spice, herbs, and dried flowers mingle with the fruit scents.
The wine shows an immediate intense sweet fruit quality in the mouth. Blackberry, black raspberry, blueberry, and lush black cherry fruit flavors prevail. Subtle notes of sweet wild mushroom, sweet earth, and forest floor are occasionally noted, but come and go, just a gentle undercurrent to the dominant fruit flavors. There's also a sense of perfume on the palate, with hints of Asian spice, dried field flowers and herbs. The tannins are silky and present, adding structure, restraining and balancing the fruit. In January 2007, the tannins are the slightest bit drying in the mouth, although after decanting and air, that quality disappeared quickly.
The Estate is aged on its lees in 75-85% new Francois Freres oak barrels, and the wine has a creamy quality in the midpalate that comes from exposure to the lees. The lees also contribute a silkiness to the mouth feel.
Every time we put our noses in the glass, this wine was changing (January 2007). With time, red fruit, primarily red raspberry, started appearing along with the blackberry and cherry flavors. Marcus noted that this wine seems much more red fruit driven than the Upper Terrace, which has been perceived by us as a much more black and blue fruit dominant wine. This 2005 Estate Pinot noir was changing so rapidly with aeration, we could not help but wonder what it would be like in a few months or a year. We'd love to see what Harvey Steiman (Wine Spectator) would say about this wine in six months to a year.
2005 Winery tasting notes:
The color is dark ruby with plenty of purple highlights. The nose is very extroverted and shows no intention of shutting down. At present the wine reveals pure blue and black fruits, (primarily black cherries, raspberries, and a hint of blackberries) along with tell-tale beet root, earth and herb notes.
In the mouth the wine is rich and full bodied, yet displays a lighter, more delicate finish. It is somewhat of a paradox that such an intense wine could also be light on its feet, but that is the style of this vintage. We believe that this seasons unique growing conditions leading up to harvest gave us the ideal grapes to produce a wine with impeccable balance in acidity, alcohol, tannin, and depth of fruit.
This wine should be relatively approachable in its youth, but because of its balance evolve for 10-12 more years. Over the last sixteen years, we have seen how well our wines have evolved. They have done what we have always hoped, improving in the bottle, which is no easy task.
Tasting Notes 2004 Vintage
Immediately upon popping the cork and pouring, the nose is intense, with a complex perfume of forest floor, white flowers, blackberry fruit, fresh turned earth, cocoa, cassis, red plum, sweet cherries, and hints of underlying dark spice. Flavors reiterate the scents, and the texture, while lush, is pure essence of Pinot, as the flavors echo over and over in the mouth.
Wine Spectator rating 95 points: "Another great Pinot from Michael Etzel, one of Oregon's most celebrated winegrowers. This one has subtlety, with a deceptively easy entry, offering cherry and plum on a lithe texture with a distinct stony note. It picks up steam and hangs on beautifully as the finish sails on and on, hinting late at sassafras. Tannins are well-integrated, but further cellaring will pull it together even more. Best from 2007 through 2015. From Oregon." -H.S.
Wow! Even young and just opened, this is just extraordinary Pinot. Mind boggling, sophisticated, nuanced, restrained opulence, seamless, reminiscent of a top flight Cote de Nuit. Should get at least as good scores as the 2003, this wine shows all the characteristics of a long lasting cellar selection, to be brought out for the grandest occasions and best cuisine.
I am hard pressed to find words to get across the pleasure this wine offers, albeit within a true-to-the varietal, pure Pinot noir flavor profile. You'll just have to try this one and send me some of your words -- it's really indescribably beautiful. -jy 3/15/06
Here's what Mike Etzel says about the 2004 Estate:
This wine is made from fruit grown on the original Beaux Freres estate vineyard. It primarily consists of Pommard & Wadenswil clones on their own roots planted between 1988 and 1995. Mike farms organically, does not irrigate, and is beginning to follow the path of Biodynamic farming. Made from the smallest yields since 1994, it is not surprising that this is an extremely concentrated effort.
The sweet tannins and velvety texture in this wine have been obvious from the first barrel tasting. The deep ruby color is accompanied by an emerging bouquet of sweet black currants, raspberries, plums, and forest floor scents. This opulent, concentrated Pinot is well proportioned with perfect acidity, and a long finish displaying seamless integration of fruit, acid, tannin, alcohol, and wood. It is rare to produce a wine of such richness and intensity that also possesses such smooth tannin and sexy up-front appeal.
