Beaux Freres

The success of Beaux Frères all begins after Michael G. Ethel reads an enticing review of a 1983 pinot noir from Willamette Valley. From there, he decides to take a road trip in that direction with his wife and three children to admire the unique region with their own eyes and, of course, taste the fantastic pinot noirs. During the trip, they stumble upon an idyllic farm with a large plot of land for sale. From that moment on, the dream of owning their own winery came to life. With some help from his sister Pat and her husband, wine critic Robert Parker Jr. the following year, Michael and family moved to that same farm to devote themselves entirely to producing high-quality pinot noir wines. Because the dream was made possible by his brother-in-law, he named the winery Beaux Frères, which means brothers-in-law in French.

The estate and vineyards are located on Oregon's Ribbon Ridge. The southern exposure and altitude here provide optimal growing conditions. For several years, Beaux Frères has been working biodynamically, deploying specific herbs and crops to increase biodiversity. Among other things, dandelions and nettles are often used. Besides pinot noir, there is also a small plot planted with chardonnay.

Since 2016, Mikey, Michael's son, has been in charge of the wines and vineyard management. His focus is on producing terroir wines as well as, of course, continuing the family tradition. Mikey uses spontaneous fermentation. So no yeasts are added to start fermentation. The wines are then aged for an average of 12 months in oak barrels of 30-50% new wood. The Belles Soeurs, The Upper Terrace and The Beaux Frères Vineyard are the winery's three top cuvées.

Of course, with Robert Parker Jr. as an investor, the wines cannot help but be reviewed every year. To avoid bias, the wines are not tasted by Robert Parker himself, but by one of his experts. Beaux Frères' best vintages are 2016, 2018 and 2019. In these years, the wines were rated with at least 96 points!