I was fortunate enough to be invited to a Beaux Freres masterclass given by Michael Etzel, owner and winemaker at Beaux Freres Vineyards a few nights ago. As many of you might know, Michael is the brother-in-law of Robert Parker who also is also a part owner of this winery. As such, Robert Parker never rates these wines (at least does not put them into Wine Advocate).
I've had Beaux Freres wines over the years, especially early on and did not like the style (bigger pinot) but over the last few years, I have come to rather enjoy them as the style has changed from a large powerful pinot to very much a burgundian style of pinot, especially the 07 (which was not his best wine...).
Michael, while on vacation back in 1986, bought an 88-acre pig farm in what is now know as the Ribbon Ridge in the Northern Willamette Valley, Yamhill County, Oregon. He calls himself a second generation arrival as there were wineries in the region already producing an increasing improving product, but it was still very early on. First gen vineyards generally planted everything from PN to Gwertraminer, and everything in between. He started off as a farmer first, and really stressed how poor he was, pretty much living hand to mouth and bartering firewood for food. His wife started to get tired of this lifestyle and asked him to do the winery. With the help of his brother in law (RP) and a new investor, they sent out a mailing list to see if people would by this $40 a bottle pinot. The day the checks started to arrive was his happiest day every he said! They went from having nothing to $300k USD in cash! They did not turn back.
Michael is a very down to earth guy. I mean so very very humble. Attributes his success to dumb luck. When asked about his greatest mistake, he said there were two, asking his wife to work in the office (which drove her insane,...which it meant that it drove him insane) and listening to Robert Parker's request to plan Grenache in the slopes. He tore this out later.
He was really engaging to speak to and was very open about topics like vintage variation (loves it), expression of his site (loves it), alcohol (does not like too much) and if it is too high, he will fill the fermentors less to give a better juice to air ratio to allow for more evaporation of alcohol (I've not heard of that before so it was interesting to get down to this level of discussion). He does not like extraction for density any more, the 07 vintage was so cool that he was worried about unbalanced wine so he actually just made his PN as if he was making a white wine (and I really liked it). I asked him about his fav wineries and the were all burgundian, (top shelf too), Serrafin, and others I could not catch but they were all highly respected burg winemakers and many other topics.
We tried his 05 to 08 wines (starting youngest first).
the 08 was the best bottle in the group. Not the one I like the most right now, but the best stuff in the bottle. It was fresh, light bright red fruit, with great density of aromas and flavors but was not a bruising wine. This had an lightness to it, even though it was dense in flavors, smooth body (did not get the note on Achl. levels), wonderful body and structure and a great persistence. It will need some time (did not start to open up until the end of the class and it has been double decanted).
The 07 was from a "weak" vintage and yet it was my fav of the night. Perhaps more developed than I would have thought, but great balance of fruit, minerals, and wood, medium bodied and good complexity to keep interest up, first one I finished tonight.
The 06 was my least favorite as right at the top, I could sense a high alcohol level. The season was too powerful and he tried to tone it down. Got it mostly right save for the high alcohol levels.
The 05 was the best showing wine of the night. Like the 07 had great balance but had more power and density of the fruit and the minerals. Wood had integrated more. He uses about 70% new wood in each vintage so there is certainly some wood there but it was not overpowering and did not mask the wine.
It was also good to see the consistency in the style of the wine so that the vintage and the site really came through. I enjoyed this class much more than I thought.
