2012 Beaux Freres, Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon.
The latest Beaux Freres Pinot is well endowed with lushness, elegance and balance, it is less serve and not as delicate as the 2011, making for a bit more flamboyance and head turning attraction. Mike Etzel and his team always turn out a great wine, their talents and skills are legendary, Beaux Freres is one of the finest estates in America, not just Oregon and the wines are truly world class. The 2012 vintage is going to be a special year for Oregon Pinot Noir, if there was ever a time to stock to the gills in Willamette Valley Pinot, this is the vintage, look for lots of magical wines and some very rewarding longterm investments, and without a doubt some of the most successful with come from Beaux Freres. I was lucky enough to taste 20 year old Beaux Freres Pinot at a tasting held by Santa Cruz Mountains vintner and Pinot enthusiast Richard Alfaro of Alfaro Family Vineyards, he is an avid collector of Beaux Freres and he showed a mini vertical of 1993, 1994 and 1995 Beaux Freres, and they were all sound and glorious, especially the famed 1994 and the 1995, so wines can age and do so gracefully. The 2012’s look set for a long pleasing life too, though it will be hard not to drink these beauties as fast as you can, they are drinking fantastic already. The 2012 Willamette Valley cuvee from Beaux Freres is beautifully detailed and striking with heady perfume, rich texture and heavenly layers of flavor. The Willamette features fruit souced from prime vineyards in the northern Willamette Valley and is made up of about 14% of Beaux Freres Estate and Upper Terrace fruit and from Cru sites that include Savoya, Zena Crown, Hyland and others. The wine sees less new oak than the all estate bottling, though it is seriously lavish and complex, this wine oozes hedonistic charm and is the sexiest young Beaux Freres to date, you don’t want to miss this alluring and heady wine. The nose is filled with violets and red rose petals, earth, spice and smoke leading to a round generous palate of blackberry, blueberry, plum and dark cherry fruits along with lifting acidity, silky tannins and mineral notes, plus touches of mocha, wild strawberry, flinty pepper, asian tea, vanilla and dried currants. This wine is just hitting the market and will sell out fast, so don’t wait it will be very sad to miss this vintage, I can’t wait to try the estate wines, drink from 2015 to 2026.
($60 Est.) 94-95 Points, grapelive
