The Long and Glorious Career of Bethel Heights Southeast Block
- Posted on June 25 2011, 9:14 am
- Posted by BHV Blog
When we planted it in 1979, the Southeast Block looked just like the other two Pinot blocks planted that year on the newly cleared east side of our vineyard, with cuttings from Dick Erath’s Pommard clone Pinot noir stuck directly into the ground without benefit of phylloxera-resistant rootstock.
But soon after these three look-alike Pinot blocks started producing fruit, differences in their soil depth began to assert themselves. The South Block was always a bit overly vigorous; the Flat Block was always a bit weak. The Southeast Block was always Just Right, and was clearly destined to be Goldilocks’ favorite.
To top it off, in 1998 the famous French geologist Yves Herody, consultant to many of Burgundy’s biodynamic vignerons, declared that our Southeast Block was created by a different geological event than the blocks next to it, giving its parent rock a Unique Mineral Content. By then it had already become our glory hog.
During the ‘80’s, when we were still selling most of our fruit to other wineries, the Southeast Block was the Chosen Block of Domaine Drouhin Oregon. After 1991, when we started bottling our own Southeast Block designated wine, it regularly got the highest score of all our Pinots. It was almost always our Featured Wine at theInternational Pinot Noir Celebration. It usually provided our Chosen Barrel for the ¡Salud! auction.
Always a prima donna, unwilling to share the spotlight, the SEB has never been a component in our Casteel Reserve.
In 2006 the Southeast Block was the Chosen Block for the Cellar Crawl Collection, a “best block” fruit trade experiment between Bethel Heights, Penner-Ash, Ken Wright, Cristom and Solena.
This year the 2008 Southeast Block was selected as the only Oregon Pinot for the inspiring wine list at Boston’s new Legal Harborside Restaurant, a collection of only 50 wines from around the world “whose personality originates from an individual place, wine whose identity reflects a single family’s connection to the particular parcel of earth that it tends.”
As Ben described it for the Harborside Collection, “The roots of these own-rooted vines have grown down and explored our rocky volcanic soil for over thirty years, and in doing so have produced wines that are defined far more by their place, than by vintage or by the hand of the winemaker. Since my father first started bottling wines from the Southeast Block as single-block designates in 1991, this block has given us wines with a firm backbone combined with robust savory fruit and a deep minerality that is unique to this place.”
The Southeast Block is thirty-two years old this year. There are signs that phylloxera has finally discovered its unprotected roots, but Mimi’s worm tea is being liberally applied to boost its immune system, and we believe its best years may still be ahead. Certainly the 2007 and 2008 Southeast Block Pinotsare two of the most glorious and ageworthy wines we have ever produced.
If the Southeast Block were a person, who would it be?
Ted: Spencer Tracy or Humphrey Bogart (a bit rough on the outside, but solid intellect and sweet heart on the inside)
Mimi: Robert Redford (good when young, great when old)
Ben: Paul Newman (better than Redford, same reasons)
Kate: Katherine Hepburn
Mimi: SEB can’t be a woman, but if it were, it would be Katherine Hepburn
Pat: Sean Connery (tough but smooth, becoming more interesting with age)
Mimi: Not Sean Connery. SEB can’t have an accent.
Terry: Jamie Tombaugh (because if the SEB has anything, it has character)
Although the Southeast Block Reserve has always been my favorite wine since the initial vintage, who is that guy on the tractor with the bad hat and matching brown-lensed glasses? Can that be Ted?
And since I’m the first to submit a comment, here are some notes on various vintages of the SEB:
1995 Bethel Heights Pinot noir Southeast Block Reserve (magnum): medium ruby color with just a slight lightening at the rim; nose of dark fruits but with a hint of reduction after nearly 13+ undisturbed years in the bottle; two of my fellow tasters got scents of “scuppernong” grapes (these, along with muscadines, are Deep South heat and humidity-resistant grape varieties favored by local winemakers who like sweet wine); on the palate, a very full and robust explosion of fruit; nothing shy here – if this was an “off’ year for Oregon Pinots, it wasn’t for the SE Block. This has very nice fruit-acidity balance, no tannin and a nice, moderately long finish. In this format, it could go another 5 years easily with proper cellaring. [5/9/09]
1998 Bethel Heights Pinot noir Southeast Block Reserve: 13%; perfect cork. I had better start reading my notes before opening bottles as this is the third bottle of this wonderful wine I’ve opened in the last year [see notes at 10/8/08 and 4/22/09]. Unfortunately, this was the second bottle I opened this evening as the first was badly corked (big bummer) even though the cork appeared to be perfect; now I’m down to one 750 and 3 magnums; medium-dark ruby; shy nose at first with hints of cherry and earth trying to peek out; nice glycerin legs coat the glass; this wine appears not to have aged at all as it is still young and vibrant from this bottle; later, very bright cherry fruit emerged and there seemed to be more acidity than is typical of this vintage; this wine still has time on its side; at OOC with pan-seared rock fish topped with a shrimp and crab cream sauce; [9/30/09]
1999 Bethel Heights Pinot noir Southeast Block Reserve: 13%; popped and poured; perfect cork; crystal clear, medium ruby garnet color with no noticeable signs of age; dark cherries and blackberries on the nose; pure T Pinot fruit; glides down the palate; medium+ body; balancing acidity was perfect with champagne chicken sauce and pasta; the finish is long, lingering and lithe; drinking beautifully now with many years in reserve; at home with Dianne’s champagne chicken and pasta with Summer and Jeannie Milliken visiting from Ferriday; 23 hours later, still beautiful with a little background tannin from the light sediment; see previous tasting note at 3/4/09…no menthol or eucalyptus scents in this bottle, just more great Pinot; [2/19/11]
2000 Bethel Heights Pinot noir Southeast Block Reserve: 13.5%; last bottle; popped and poured; deep ruby garnet color; bright red cherry pit fruit on the nose initially; same intense red cherry fruit on the palate with a hint of spice and earthiness; medium+ acidity and body, great structure; still young and primary at this point (which surprised me at bit); an hour later, I’m asking myself, can a wine, in addition to adding weight, go from red cherry to black cherry aromas and flavors as it opens up? This one did; this wine should improve and drink well for at least another 3-5+ years; at OOC with the Dents and an excellent Cuban panini; [3/10/11]
Posted by Tom Miller, Just Pinot, LLC at October 01 2011