While vacationing in 1986, Michael Etzel came upon an 88-acre pig farm for sale on Ribbon Ridge in the Northern Willamette Valley, Yamhill County, Oregon. After some deliberation, he purchased the farm with his brother-in-law (the French idiom is beaux frères), wine critic Robert Parker, Jr. Michael then moved with his young family from Colorado and began planting Pinot Noir, slowly transforming the old pig and dairy farm into a jewel. Today his son, Mike D. Etzel is winemaker. In the spring of 2017, their second-generation winery began a new partnership with eighth-generation, family-owned French winery Maisons & Domaines Henriot. Since their first vintage in 1991, the Beaux Frères philosophy remains the same; to produce a world-class Pinot Noir from small, well-balanced yields and ripe, healthy fruit that represents the essence of the vineyard. Beaux Freres wines develop significant perfume, weight and texture in the bottle, and most need a bit of bottle time to really show their stuff.