Winemaker Notes
Playful, candy-coated raspberry aromas bounce from the glass along with sweet cigar spice, followed by a lush palate of dark cherry and soft yet pithy tannin. Finishes with quenching acidity and lingering, velvety texture.
Beaux Freres 2021 Willamette Valley cuvée consists of Pinot Noir sourced from the following vineyards: Star Mooring 23%, Doration 19%, Stardance 170 Zena Crown 890, Sequitur 700, Dupee Valley 796 Hyland 5%, Guadalupe 5%, Gran Moraine 3% Jessie James 2%, La Colina 2%Beaux Frères 1%, and Upper Terrace 1%.
Blend: 100% Pinot Noir
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I tasted the 2021 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley about a month after it was bottled, but it doesn't seem to matter—it bursts from the glass with generous pomegranate, cranberry and raspberry preserves aromas and accents of orange peel, aniseed and tea leaves. The palate is stunning: it strikes a balance between highly concentrated, nuanced fruit and an uplifted, silky structure, and it has a particularly elegant finish.
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James Suckling
Wild and vibrant nose of rosemary, cherry stones, small strawberries, violets and seaweed. So fresh, with a medium body and powdery tannins. I like the persistent fine, chalky texture. Unfined and unfiltered. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
Sleek, graceful and elegantly proportioned, with expressive violet, raspberry, guava and black tea flavors that jump out of the glass and gather richness toward polished tannins.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Deep ruby with a purple tinge, the 2021 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley is generous and attractive, with a pure and spicy perfume of pressed flowers, wild raspberry preserve, and brambly herbs. Approachable and drinking well out of the gate, this medium to full-bodied red is ripe with juicy fruit, good structure, ripe tannins, and pithy texture, as well as a touch of warming spice on a long finish. It’s a solid appellation wine that casts a very large net for appeal.
Home of some of the planet’s most amazingly elegant and expressive Pinot noir, the Willamette Valley is a pastoral, mixed landscape of green, bucolic rolling hills, dramatic forestlands and small, independent, friendly wine growers. As a leader in environmental stewardship, the valley has some of the nation’s most protective land use policies, with two-thirds of its vineyards farmed sustainably and over half, organically. While the valley claims a cool, continental climate, and is heavily influenced by the cold, moist winds of the Pacific Ocean, its warm and dry summers allow for the steady, even ripening of Pinot noir.
The potential of Willamette Valley Pinot noir continues to attract the investment of serious growers and winemakers both locally and from abroad, as naturally the finished wines bring accolades from professionals and enthusiasts. With a range of styles from delicate dried cherry, raspberry and hibiscus to stronger notes of truffle, mocha, plum and spice, a fine Willamette Valley Pinot noir is a perfect expression of both character and grace.