Beaux Freres

Home page

2000 Vintage
1999 Vintage
1998 Vintage
1997 Vintage
1996 Vintage
1991-95 Vintages
2001 Harvest
by Cole Danehower

Vintage Chart

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 Freres
Winemaker Notes:

Our 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.

Go to
wine info
and ordering

Need Wine?

Call us at
541-752-7418
we love to talk
with our customers about
NW wines!

Store manager Ann Crowley-
10-6PM M-Sat

---

Cole Danehower on
Oregon Wine

This is the best guide, bar none, to Oregon's wines. Insightful articles, interesting reviews, in depth interviews- you'll find them all here. Worth every penny if you're interested in Oregon wine.

Andy Perdue
on
Northwest Wine

Andy is editor of
Wine Press NW

Check it out!