Since Beaux Frères’ founding, the winery has firmly established itself as one of the top producers in the Willamette Valley. Beaux Frères has had a number of evolutions over the decades. The winery’s 2023 vintage wines, however, mark a number of notable transitions.

“It’s very much an inflection point for the story of Beaux Frères,” says Christopher Marshall, director of sales and marketing at the winery.

First, founder Michael Etzel, who was also the winery’s original winemaker, retired in January of 2023. Mikey Etzel, the Etzels’ middle son, subsequently became CEO and technical director.

Mikey Etzel had served as winemaker at Beaux Frères since 2016. With the 2023 vintage, Damien Lapuyade assumed winemaking responsibilities. Lapuyade had previously spent three and a half years as winemaker at Evening Lands Vineyards.

“Damien has a reverence for the sites that he’s getting to work with,” Marshall says. “He certainly follows in the school of thought and approaches that Mikey had, which is minimal intervention, stewarding the fruit.”

The 2023 vintage Beaux Frères wines also sport a refreshed label design. This was done in collaboration with contemporary landscape painter Alden Trevor McWilliams.

“As we’re moving toward being 100% estate, there was a desire to have our portfolio have some measure of uniformity between the labels,” Marshall says. “At the same time, we wanted artwork that would breathe some realism into the labels.”

Damien Lapuyade (left) and Mikey Etzel, Beaux Frères.

All of the labels depict actual vantage points on the properties. The paintings are all new. Some are refreshed renderings of the original artwork, adding color. Others, such as the label for the Beaux Frères Vineyard Pinot Noir, use the skeleton of the original artwork but with a more realistic perspective of how the vineyard looks today The 2023 vintage wines are also in lighter bottles.

In another milestone, 2023 marks the first time Beaux Frères’ has made a Chardonnay that includes fruit from its estate program, about 35% of the wine. The winery planted four acres of Chardonnay in 2021.

Finally, in the background, 2023 was also the first full year that Artémis Domaines owned Beaux Frères. The company, which also owns Chateau Latour, purchased the winery in the fall of 2022. Mike Etzel maintains an ownership stake.

Of course, what is in the bottle always matters the most. In that regard, the wines are home runs, while very much in keeping with the winery’s style.

As I wrote when I reviewed the wines recently, the 2023 Beaux Frère wines are exultant, one of the strongest set of releases tip to tail I’ve tasted in quite some time. They are guaranteed to be embraced by wine lovers.

“In ’23, Mother Nature put the ball in the tee for us,” Marshall says. “The wines are really fresh, really luscious, and easy to love right out the gate.”

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