Went out to dinner with two friends last night in Portland at Cafares which is owned and operated by Pasqel Sutin. While I was there I ran into Mike Etzel from Beaux Freres and we exchanged some wine. It was a real fun night.

83 Joseph Drouhin Corton - Cinnamon spices, red fruits, hints of prune. A typical 20 year old burgundy, stealthy, silky and elegant.

92 Domaine Drouhin Oregon - Rich and ripe, almost fruit forward (What?Domaine Drouhin?). A little bit simple?. I expected a better balanced wine from DDO but this was still nice. Maybe I was comparing to the Corton?

1988 Witness Tree - Interesting. The nose was dominated by beach seaweed. Nice Pinot, elegant and balanced. Well alive.

1985 Amity Estate - I thought this wine was slightly corked, others thought it was fine. This wine will still drink 10 years from now.

2002 Beaux Freres - This wine was not released yet. Nose dominated by toast. On the palate it was seamless, most likely because it did not have a back end. Gobs of fruit. Not my style, but if you like Beaux Freres you are going to love the 2002.

2002 Ana - Made by Beaux Freres. Pretty much the same wine as above.

Jim, have you ever tried a Road's End?

Yes I have.

And your opinion?

The night are we met at Red Hills, we were dining with friends at Nick's and Dave Grooters heard us diwscussing wine. I had brought a '99 Martinelli Reserve PN with me and we offered him a taste after he walked over to our table. He went and got a bottle of his '01, opened it, poured some for us, and left the entire bottle for us. I was expecting noting and was surprised at how good it was.

Board_O,
I ran into Dave last night and got to taste the unreleased 2002 Roads End. He thought that it had a little more backbone than the 2001. It was a very nice wine.

It's pretty big and fruit forward. It's a Ken Wright wine made with Yamhill Carlton fruit. Had some rough black fruit and didn't really have any structure to it. Tasted good though.

I based my comments on tasting the wine immediately after it was opened.