WTN: 1996 Beaux Freres Pinot Noir

1996 Beaux Freres Pinot Noir The Beaux Freres Vineyard 13.5%

I was surprised to see how well the color has held up on this. Perfect. Looked like it was 4 years old. This is a Beaux Freres of elegance. The cherry liqueur aromas creep out of the glass. At first the flavors were tired and tart. After leaving the bottle open for a few hours the flavors showed their age but the tartness integrated and the wine was enjoyable but this would not be for everybody’s tastes. It has lost much of its complexities. I doubt this will improve. Drink it up or if you if you’re looking for fruit and intensity…sell sell sell!

Cheers,
Jason

[Robin Garr]

Jason, thanks for the report ... it sounds like that 10-year-old Beaux Freres is getting on, but nothing to complain about! I had occasion to participate in a vertical of well-stored older DDO some time back, and was pleasantly surprised to find some of them between 10 and 15 years old still holding up very well, but it seemed to be very much vintage-dependent.

but it seemed to be very much vintage-dependent.

Such is Oregon Pinot IMHO. Similar to Burgundy in that respect.

Jason