2021 Bethel Heights Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon, USA

ABOUT THIS WINE

This wine blends fruit from all the different sections of Bethel Heights, Justice, and Lewman estate vineyards. It truly encompasses the entire breadth of expression at the estate, from the youthful exuberance of the youngest vines planted in 2002 to the brooding, earthy complexity of old ownrooted vines that have been knitting themselves into the landscape for forty years.

Harvesting grapes from the three vineyards spanned nearly a whole month, so there is no real clear blueprint to describe how they approached the vintage. Clear skies in September darkened in October with several rain events to navigate, so their approach shifted with the weather. Generally speaking, they destemmed all of the fruit into various fermentation vessels, approached cap management on a case-by-case basis, pressed at dryness, and aged in barrel for 8 months.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

United by their interest in wine, in 1977 Ted Casteel, Pat Dudley, Terry Casteel, and Marilyn Webb abandoned the academic life and, together with Pat’s sister Barbara Dudley, bought 75 promising-looking acres northwest of Salem, with 14 acres of newly planted cuttings in the ground. We moved to the vineyard in 1978 (except Barbara, who was in California working as a lawyer for farmworkers with the Agricultural Labor Relations Board) and started a new life. In 1979 they cleared and planted 36 more acres. In 1981 they harvested the first crop and started home winemaking in Terry’s basement. In 1984 they produced their first commercial vintage of 3000 cases: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Gewurztraminer, all Estate Grown.

For the first thirty years Ted was responsible for managing the vineyards and Terry made the wine. Pat and Marilyn shared responsibilities for marketing and business management. Over thirty years they grew the wine production to 10,000 cases, and made common cause with their fellow pioneers to establish the Willamette Valley as the home of New World Pinot Noir.

The first vines were planted at Bethel Heights between 1977 and 1979. That was before the discovery of phylloxera in Oregon, so they stuck un-rooted cuttings in the ground and let them make their own roots in place.