Beaux Frères The Upper Terrace Pinot Noir 2021

97 Points Wine Spectator                                           Limited new release from Beaux-Freres. Wine Spectator #3 of 2016. 97 Points Jeb Dunnuck:  "A more transparent medium ruby, the 2021 Pinot Noir The Upper Terrace takes on a more woodsy and dark profile while remaining graceful. In the glass, it reveals notes of pine, cherry liqueur, wet asphalt, and rosemary. Medium to full-bodied, with ripe tannins and more earth tones, it has the bones to last well over the coming 10-12 years." Senior editor Tim Fish says: “Beaux Frères has set the gold standard for Oregon Pinot Noir since Michael Etzel planted his first vines in 1988 in an old pig farm, in what is now the Ribbon Ridge AVA of Willamette Valley. The Upper Terrace vineyard is his most recent planting, which is situated just north of and at a higher elevation than the original estate vines. The 9-acre vineyard was planted in 2000 to Dijon clones of Pinot Noir only, and the 2017is a brilliant expression of the Beaux Frères style: dynamic, seductive and impeccably structured. It was fermented with native yeast and aged in French oak for a year." The Beaux Freres vineyards are located on an 86-acre farm in Yamhill County's Willamette Valley. Majestic Douglas fir trees comprise just under 50 acres of the farm, with the homestead and barns occupying another six acres. The vineyard is situated on 30 acres of steep contiguous hillsides that enjoy an exceptional south/southwest exposure. The property, purchased in 1987 by Michael Etzel and the noted wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr., was named Beaux Freres (the brothers-in-law). A few years later Robert Roy, a Pinot Noir and red burgundy enthusiast from Quebec, became the third member of the Beaux Freres partnership.

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