96 points Vinous Media
Drinking window: 2028 - 2038
The 2022 Pinot Noir The Upper Terrace has a stony quality that adds lovely depth, opening with a blend of dusty dried flowers, savory spice, dried wild berries and hints of cedar. Seamlessly silky, it floods the palate with masses of ripe fruit and a cascade of inner florals, revealing a stern mineral core as sweet tannins frame the finish. This leaves a staining of primary concentration, tapering off with amazing length and potency. An air of lavender resonates over a tinge of tart blackberry fruit.

Mikey Etzel of Beaux Frères is happy to candidly speak in detail about the challenges of the 2022 growing season and how he coped. In 2022, the Beaux Frères vineyards, located in Ribbon Ridge, lost around 70% of their first buds due to the killing frost. This loss was mostly compensated by the large fruit set of the secondary buds. In the end, the vintage started an entire month later than usual. During harvest, rain threatened the production, forcing Etzel to make picking decisions based on the sanitary conditions of the fruit and compromising on the ideal ripeness level for texture and flavor. The winery declassified significantly more fruit than usual in 2022, and Etzel made a number of changes in the winemaking process as well. This included less extraction from fewer pump-overs, less time in the vat in general and a reduction in the use of whole clusters, all to promote freshness. The result is a set of wines that come across as wickedly fresh, complex and solidly fruited. Once again, The Upper Terrace is a unique wine, function of an extra 100 feet of elevation and a different mix of clones. It just barely outpaces the spellbinding Sequitur, in need of time to fully come around. As for the Beaux Frères Vineyard, the blending of locations from the estate holdings, including the oldest vines, really shines. This is a set of 2022s that should not be missed. They represent an ideal blend of terroir, vintage and winemaking.