Home

Two Great Articles on Pascal in Two National Magazines!  Summer 2011

Wine and Spirits 30 Under 30

Imbibe Magazine

Featured Article in Snooth.com February 2011   Click Here to read.  Thank you Gregory for a great visit!

From Travel Oregon: Oregon Dreamer:  The Story of Janie Brooks Heuck

Fall 2010

Six years ago, Janie Brooks Heuck’s knowledge about wine varietals was minimal: some were red and some were white. It was her creative big brother, Jimi, who was the expert on vinification.
Janie, always the sensible sibling when the two were growing up in Southwest Portland, planned a lucrative career as a CPA. In her eyes, Jimi’s passionate involvement in the soil-to-sip process of making Oregon wine was mere dilettantism.
But when Jimi died suddenly in September of 2004 from an aortic aneurism at age 38, Janie soon discovered what an important figure her brother had become in the pantheon of Oregon winemakers.
 

From Dream to Reality
Growing up, Janie studied accounting while Jimi lived a bohemian life, traveling through France to learn all he could about life and wine. He was drawn back to McMinnville, where he’d attended college, to apply his bubbling knowledge to his beloved Oregon wine country. He roamed the hillside vineyards with his little boy, Pascal, dreaming out loud of someday building Brooks Winery.
Jimi’s organic, biodynamic grapes, grown on leased vineyards, were top grade. And his wines, made at friends’ wineries, were gaining national acclaim. So upon his sudden death, his friends didn’t want his valuable work to go down the drain.
 

A Collective Legacy
The day he passed, the grapes were just days away from harvest and 14 of his winemaker friends volunteered to bring in the harvest and make the wine. They knew Jimi’s meticulous process well enough to replicate his wines—but there was just one catch. “We want you to run the winery,” they told Janie.
Managing a winery did not figure into Janie’s ordered plan for her life. But her thoughts went straight to eight-year-old Pascal, who often stated he would grow up to be a winemaker just like his dad. Janie knew it was up to her to keep the winery going and one day pass it on to Pascal.
“He’s the last Brooks, but it’s my name too,” says Janie. “It is our family legacy.”
Pascal is now the teenage owner of Brooks Winery, with its own facilities and tasting room near Amity. Until Pascal takes over, a longtime friend of his dad’s oversees the wine production while Janie manages the winery.
And it seems Janie has a knack for the vintner’s life after all. The winery’s reputation was boosted last fall when a Brooks wine—a 2006 Ara Riesling— was served at President Obama's first state dinner.

For the entire story plus photos, visit Travel Oregon.

Brooks Ara Riesling 2006 poured at President Obama's First State Dinner:

On Tuesday, November 24, Brooks Ara Riesling 2006 was poured at President Obama's first state dinner.  Hosted on the White House lawn, our Riesling was featured with the meal's second course.  Here are more articles:

New York Times

CNN

OregonLive.com

KATU.com

Sunset Magazine Chooses Brooks as a "Tasting Room with a View"

and selects 2007 Willamette Valley Riesling for Wine Club!

We're pleased to be part of Sunset Magazine's November 2009 issue featuring best tasting rooms with a view.  And, we're eager to try this food pairing for our 2007 Willamette Valley Riesling:  Turkey Sandwiches with carmelized onions and charmoula mayo.

Jancis Robinson Reports on Oregon Wines' Ageworthiness and Praises Brooks Wines:

4 Aug 2009 by Jancis Robinson

At the end of this year's International Pinot Noir Celebration in Oregon, on which I?ll be publishing detailed tasting notes separately, a few of us out-of-town wine writers were shown the following selection of Oregon wines chosen to demonstrate the ageing potential of wines from the state. Apparently the wines had been submitted by an array of producers and then the final few dozen were selected on the basis of tasting by a panel of 11 Oregon winemakers. Harry Peterson Nedry of Chehalem and Ted Casteel of Bethel Heights led us through this range, which did indeed demonstrate that Oregon wines can last just as long as, and sometimes longer than, equivalent wines from classic regions of Europe. It also showed that wines made in rainy years such as 1996 and 1997 can last well.

Pinot Noir:

Pinot styles seem to have got sweeter and in general less appetising this millennium - although the 2007s are looking lovely and fresh, much more so than the very ripe 2006s. We were told that in the other very hot year, 2003, raisining was a much bigger problem than in 2006. The 2003s sold well but few winemakers wanted to submit them for this tasting. Our hosts admitted that the climate was definitely warming, with cool years 2007 and 2008 still warmer than summers used to be.

Brooks, Janus Pinot Noir 2002 Oregon 18 Drink 2007-13
Notably pale. Bright red. Very individualistic and distinctive. More freshness than most. Transparent and so casual and confident! Bravo! Lovely expressive, lucid Pinot. 13.9%

Riesling: 

The Rieslings of the late Jimi Brooks were the clear standouts here. Riesling is regarded as a late ripener in the Willamette Valley.  

Brooks Riesling 2005 Willamette Valley 17 Drink 2008-13
Pale straw. Very clean and Germanic though light on the nose. Very fine and focused and gret balance. Off dry, pzazz!!!! Just what I want to drink now as my aperitif. 13.3%

Brooks, Ara Riesling 2008 Willamette Valley 17 Drink 2011-17
Chris Williams makes the wine. He was Jimmy Brooks's assistant. Ex WillaKenzie. Quite big and opulent then tart and floral. 12.7%

Brooks Wines - Rings In New Year, After Celebrating Ten Years of Winemaking

Get "The Dirt" on Harvest 2009

Fall Newsletter: Check Out Pascal's Corner

Brooks Wines Participant in "OREGON BOUNTY" Program

Wine & Spirits Recognizes Brooks 2006 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir as "TOP 100 BEST BUYS"

Sante Magazine Gives "GOLD STAR AWARD" for Brooks 2006 Willamette Valley Riesling


Press Releases (click to download .pdf file)

Byodynamic Farming Allows better Purity and Clarity in Wines

Brooks Moves into New Winery - Nestled in the Heart of the Eola Hills

Contracted Vineyards Thoughout the Valley are Intregal Part of Diverse Blending Program

Celebrating Ten Years of Brooks Wines - Timeline