Damien Lapuyade

At UC Davis, Damien Lapuyade built the technical base that later carried into cellar and vineyard work. The line from training to practice is straightforward here: close work with fruit, attention to process, and repetition across vintages. At Iris Vineyards, he served as cellarmaster; at Evening Land Vineyards in North Willamette Valley, he worked on the winemaking team from 2020, adding the kind of detail-driven experience that tends to show up quietly in finished wine rather than in the résumé.

That background set up the move to Beaux Frères, where Lapuyade’s role now sits at the center of the estate’s Chardonnay program. He became Head Winemaker at Beaux Frères Vineyard in Newberg, Oregon, United States, in 2023, and he is also winemaker of Beaux Frères since 2025. The work there reads as an extension of the same discipline: measured, practical, and close to the fruit.

The current Beaux Frères appointment gives Damien Lapuyade direct responsibility for the estate voice. As Head Winemaker at Beaux Frères Vineyard in Newberg, Oregon, United States, since 2023, he is working inside a framework that asks for both consistency and judgment. His recent Chardonnay releases include the 2023 Beaux Freres Chardonnay and the Debut Willamette Valley Chardonnay, which was his first Chardonnay release at Beaux Frères.

Those wines mark a clear point in his tenure: Chardonnay has become a defined part of the program, and the work around it is presented with precision rather than flourish.

Damien Lapuyade's signature wines include Willamette Valley Chardonnay and 2023 Beaux Freres Chardonnay. Taken together, they point to a focus on Chardonnay as a site-responsive wine, one that depends on restraint in the cellar and clear decisions in the vineyard-to-bottle line.

The debut Chardonnay at Beaux Frères gives Lapuyade a first marker within the estate program, and the language around it stays practical. His own framing is direct: “I'm really excited to start this new era at Beaux Frères of having a estate-driven Chardonnay program.” That statement puts the emphasis where it belongs, on a defined program and the work required to shape it.