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Christina Kelly,
Avalon Wine Senior Editor

Christina Kelly spent the first half of her career as a journalist for daily newspapers and magazines. She left daily journalism to work in corporate marketing/communications, but as a passionate wine enthusiast, she continues to write about the Northwest wine industry (since 1997) for many national publications.

Christina is a multiple fellowship winner to the Professional Wine Writers Symposium in Napa, including 2012. Christina has written for Avalonwine.com for the past 12 years. She can be reached at winewriter@comcast.net.

Jean Yates
Avalon Wine Owner

Jean first worked with the Oregon wine industry in 1989, when she helped develop marketing brochures for wineries in the South Willamette. She then started Avalon, and has supported the industry through her wine shop and web site ever since. Jean enjoys promoting Oregon and Washington wines and bringing Northwest wines to the notice of the wine-loving public across the country. She previously worked in high tech marketing and research in Silicon Valley.

Jean built and continually updates the Avalon web site, writes our Wine Club Newsletter, numerous e-mail articles on NW wine, and articles for the web site. Her twenty five years of experience working with NW wineries and winemakers gives Avalon a deep knowledge of the industry. She's judged NW wine at various competitions since 1997. Jean's favorite activity is photography, and many of the images on the Avalon web site are hers. She's from NC via Palo Alto, and lives in the South Willamette wine country.

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October 25, 2009, at 11:14 am

Beaux Freres – Introducing the Second Generation

By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on October 25th, 2009

Read the complete article “Beaux Freres – Introducing the Next Generation”. It has a lot more information on the history of the winery and the boys’ stories than the blog post about their new winery.

Here’s the beginning of the article:

Beaux Freres, French for “brothers-in-law,” is named for its founders, brothers-in-law Mike Etzel and Robert Parker Jr. After nearly twenty years in business, and as two of Etzel’s sons follow in their father’s footsteps, starting careers in the wine industry, people are wondering: Will Beaux Freres be handed down to the next generation of brothers?

If a single Oregon winery were to define simultaneously “powerhouse” and “refined,” it would be Beaux Freres. They’ve been hugely yet quietly successful from their first vintage to the present, producing top quality Pinot noirs and getting rave reviews and high scores in the wine press. Parker’s status as a critic and his well-known monthly publication The Wine Advocate has certainly garnered attention for Beaux Freres, though Parker, doubtless for obvious reasons, does not cover their winery.

Etzel’s sons, Jared and Mikey, are the family’s second generation of winemakers, with the youngest, Nathan, possibly in tow. Both Jared and Mikey have worked several wine industry jobs, and are currently employed at Fisher Vineyards in Napa and Willakenzie Estate near Beaux Freres, respectively. In addition, they have just started their own winery, Coattails Winery, and released their first wine, Coattails Winery Horsetails Pinot noir 07. What they do next is yet to be determined, though it is a distinct possibility that they will eventually pick up where Dad and Uncle leave off.

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October 25th, 2009 | Category: Jean's Blogs, Oregon Wine | Comments are closed

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