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1995 Vintage
This paradoxical vintage produced very ripe fruit, but heavy rain immediately prior to the harvest could not be completely concealed by low yields and a careful vinification and selection process in the cellar.

Initially, this vintage tasted charming but disarmingly light and lacking substance, but because of no racking, extended lees contact, and no fining or filtration, the 1995 has turned out to be one of the most charming, Volnay-like Pinot noirs we have produced to date. It has put on weight in the bottle, and has always possessed an exquisite perfume of flowers, black and red fruits, spice, and earth. It has been delicious since the day it was bottled, although lacking complexity and, seemingly, depth.

The wine has filled in beautifully, and despite being our lightest-colored Pinot (medium ruby with a touch of garnet and amber at the edge), this fleshy, plush, lush offering continues to surprise us with its freshness, charm, and ability to develop weight and additional aromatic nuances. Although it is our lightest Pinot noir of the decade, in many ways it is among our most interesting.
Anticipated maturity: now-2004.
Availability: Sold Out.

1994 Vintage
Ridiculously small yields of less than one ton of fruit per acre, an extremely hot, dry growing season, and the earliest harvest to date resulted in a blockbuster, oversized monster that tasted more like syrah than pinot noir during its first four to five years of life. Still an opaque ruby/purple-color, this wine is beginning to reveal Pinot noir's hallmark nobility and class as it passes its seventh year of life. It remains full-bodied and unctuously-textured, with levels of glycerin and richness that are atypical for pinot noir.

In the mouth, the wine is massive yet not heavy, and gorgeously pure. The finish lasts for 40-45 seconds. It is a freak by normal Pinot noir standards, but it is developing into a majestic expression of Pinot noir that will last for another 10-15 years. Not surprisingly, Pinot noir enthusiasts as well as California winemakers think this may be the greatest Pinot noir ever made in Oregon. Critics who claimed it was overripe and out of balance when young, would be well-served to taste it today.

A marvelous freak of nature, it is aging at a glacial pace, but has picked up all the essence of Pinot noir and has shed its somewhat excessively exuberant youthful state. Anticipated maturity: 2003-2020.
Availability: Sold Out.

1993 Vintage
This is a spectacular Pinot that has done everything we could have expected it to do ... develop fabulously in the bottle. Our goal was to put the essence of the vineyard into the bottle in as natural and uncompromised state as possible. The 1993, a vintage that produced ripe fruit and beautiful balance, continues to strike us as the most consistently complex, Burgundian, and seductive Pinot noir we have produced. With no degradation of color, this seamless effort reveals beautiful dark fruits intermixed with notes of meat, herbs, earth, licorice, and spring flowers.

Voluptuously-textured, but not heavy, rich, medium to full-bodied, pure, and vigorous, this has turned out to be a tour de force as well as a great example of what Pinot noir can do in Oregon. It has been fully mature for several years, but shows no signs of decline. Our 1999 should behave similar to 1993, yet has more volume and fat. Anticipated maturity: now-2007. Availability: Sold Out.

1992 Vintage
Our first serious commercial release, about 1,000 cases of the 1992 were made at the Ponzi winery since we had not yet finished construction of the Beaux Frères facility. The 1992 is a powerful, dense, chewy effort with a youthful deep ruby color just beginning to lighten at the edge.

For whatever reason, the oak has never been as integrated in the 1992 as in other vintages, but does add a sexy, pain grillé character along with jammy, ripe, black cherry and currant fruit. The wine is full-bodied, not as complex or aromatically pleasing as the 1993, nor as majestic as the 1998 or 1994, but there is good volume, plenty of flesh, and a chewy, full-bodied, still developing style.

We are very pleased with it, but feel picking our own fruit and moving it several hundred yards down the hill to our own winery gives us an advantage over making a wine in someone else's facility.
Anticipated maturity: now-2010. Availability: Sold Out.

1991 Vintage
Only 75 cases were produced in this vintage. The 1991 is a delicate, floral, extremely perfumed Pinot noir that seemed to lack stuffing in its youth. However, much like the 1995, it put on weight, developed additional complex nuances, and continues to surprise us by its ability to hold on to life without any color degradation or the telltale signs of an old wine - increasing drying of the fruit and the ascendancy of hard tannin as well as noticeable acidity.

This wine has been a plump, fleshy effort that is a beautiful statement for Oregon Pinot noir. Anticipated maturity: How much longer it will survive is questionable, but we suggest that any readers who have a bottle should consume it over the next several years.
Availability: Sold Out.

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