2023 Beaux Freres Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, Oregon, USA (750ml)

WINEMAKER NOTES:

A melodious choir of summer strawberries, bing cherries, dusty rose petals, and fresh tobacco with a crescendo of sleek, pillowy texture that extends into a long and memorable finish. Drink now through 2032.

TASTING NOTES:

From three vineyard sources, two that Mikey planted in 2016 for family friends, Star Mooring and Doration and 60% comes from the Beaux Freres estate site, young vines, planted in 2021. A combination of opulence from the non-estate site marries with angularity and freshness, bottled in August 2024, just before harvest. Built to be approachable and speak to the house style, it's showing effusive rose petals with explosive red fruits, brilliant textures, cranberries and blood orange, bright mineral salinity and freshness with great pops of berry fruits

- Decanter, 95 pts. 

A concentrated but generous and approachable red. This offers charming red fruit on the nose and some deeper, denser black fruit on the palate, with black cherries, moderate tannins and a medium to full body. Drink now or hold.

- James Suckling, 94 pts. 

Supple and elegantly complex, with nuanced flavors of raspberry and cherry framed by hints of forest floor, dusky spices and cinnamon as this gathers richness toward polished tannins. Drink now through 2035.

- Wine Spectator, 94 pts. 

Pouring a bright ruby red color, the 2023 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley has a fruity and savory profile, with notes of ripe wild berries, light gamey richness, purple flowers, and forest earth. Medium-bodied, it has a plushness but a lovely lightweight feel on the palate. Drink over the coming 12-15 years. For this cuvée, they conducted small trials with a small part of the whole cluster, involving about 5% in this vintage. After speaking with Mikey Etzel and Damien Lapuyade, who brings his experience from Evening Land to the production, I anticipate seeing subtle shifts in this direction moving forward.

- Jeb Dunnuck, 93 pts. 

Made from around 60% estate fruit, the 2023 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley has slowly opening scents of red cherry, strawberry, lavender, gravel dust and mossy bark. The medium-bodied palate offers crunchy red fruit and latent spicy accents. It’s framed by fine, dusty tannins and juicy acidity and has a long finish. 

- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 93 pts. 

The 2023 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley is aromatically stunning, with a cascade of sweet rose and lavender giving way to dusty dried strawberries and spice. Energetic yet also silken and supple, it reveals depths of bright red fruit and subtle mineral tones. A tinge of tart cranberry lingers, framed by gently grippy tannins as a nuance of licorice tapers off. As of 2023, the Willamette Valley Pinot Noir now makes use of the new Bridge Vineyard, making it about 61% estate fruit.

- Vinous, 93 pts.