Beaux Frères 1999 Vintage
by Jean Yates
In 2008, the 1999 is mostly a memory. A few Beaux Frères collectors are lucky enough to still have the 1999 vintage in their cellar.
The 1999 Vintage, Retrospective View
In July, 2007, Beaux Frères published these notes: "A vintage hailed by wine pundits as a great one for Oregon Pinot Noir. It was a year of relatively high yields (even for us) and a spectacular growing year followed by very good harvest conditions. Our biggest crop of the 1990’s produced a wine stylistically reminiscent of Burgundy. The color is medium to dark ruby, in the mouth it is crisp acidity (all natural) and loads of kirsch liqueur, spice box, roasted herbs and cedar in an expressive bouquet. The wine is medium-bodied with freshness, impressive elegance and finesse. This is by no means a blockbuster, super-concentrated style of Pinot Noir but one of lace and grace. The high natural acidity has ensured a certain freshness and will guarantee longevity. In many ways we are hoping that its aromatics may turn out to be as profound as the 1993 but it is too early to tell."
The 1999 Vintage, Written in 2000
A miraculous spell of great weather in October provided excellent conditions for ripening Pinot Noir in most of Oregon and turned a would-be tardy and difficult vintage into something truly special. A grapegrower's and a winemaker's vintage all in one? Well, yes, as it turns out. And with a good quantity of very fine wine, to be sure, it's a winelover's vintage as well.
In the vineyard it was clear from the start that we were behind by comparison with a "normal" growing season. In retrospect, though, we can now characterize this as less an ominous sign, and more just Nature's calm deliberation. We enjoyed a good fruit set with a protracted but successful flowering extending from about middle of June through the latter part of the month in coolish weather. We thinned fruit to one cluster per shoot in early to mid-August by means of a green harvest to adjust the yield downward in hopes of achieving a more even ripening and greater concentration of flavor. Color change began in the latter part of August and completed by mid-September.
Growing conditions remained mostly clement, with moderate temperatures and no excessive moisture, allowing the fruit to ripen evenly with a respectable, yet modest, yield of about two tons to the acre. The long, dry early Fall season allowed harvest to occur under excellent conditions. The vineyard gave us fine, fresh, ripe fruit with soft, supple tannins, allowing for clean fermentations and new wines that almost begged to be drunk right out of the fermenters.
If possessing less of the sheer density of 1998, vintage 1999 in The Beaux Frères Vineyard has yielded a complete and expressive wine that is graceful yet ample, delicate yet possessing a tensile strength, a wine with both sinew and sensuousness, a wine that will reward careful cellaring for years to come.
1999 Beaux Frères Wine Notes, Written in 2000
1999 Beaux Frères $59.99 sold out
Winemaker Notes: The 1999 vintage Beaux Frères has a saturated dark ruby/purple color to the rim. A surprisingly sweet, almost jammy nose of cola, black cherry liqueur, raspberries and blackberries. Despite aging in 80% new François Frères oak, the wood is beautifully integrated and subtle (particularly impressive for such a young wine). Fat, succulent, fleshy and full-bodied, with an intense richness and seamless texture, this wine has the potential to be the most seductive and complex wine we have produced. Think of it as a hypothetical blend of our velvety 1993 with the power and muscle of our 1998, but with softer tannin and lower acidity. Anticipated maturity: 2001-2012.
Wine Spectator 94 points Wine Spectator says: "Bright, supple and open-textured, offering disarmingly pure currant and blackberry flavors that linger elegantly on the extra-long finish. Not a blockbuster; it's just yummy and refined. Tannins aren't intrusive, making this tempting to drink already. Drink now through 2009. 3,100 cases made.
1999 Beaux Frères Belles Soeurs Pinot Noir Yamhill Cuvee $49.99 sold out Winemaker Notes: Produced under the "Belle Souer" label, this Beaux Frères wine is a blend of Pinot Noir from Archery Summit, Shea Vineyard and The Beaux Frères Vineyard. Although it possesses the vintage's ripe, forward, soft fruit, it exhibits more earthy, spicy, abundant plum and black cherry notes. The wine is slightly less silky, and more tannic and muscular than that of the Shea Vineyard. Anticipated maturity: 2001-2008. 429 cases produced.
