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Our Reviews
Want to know what the critics have to say about Bethel Heights for current and past vintages? We’ve got the highs (and sometimes the lows) for you to ponder.
International Wine Cellar, Josh Raynolds, July-August 2011
2008 Bethel Heights Vineyard Pinot Noir Casteel Reserve Eola-Amity Hills - 93($60) Complex, spice-accented bouquet displays raspberry preserves, cherry-cola, potpourri and smoky minerals. Energetic and precise on the palate, offering juicy red and dark berry flavors that show impressive depth and energy. Gains weight with air, picking up a mocha note and finishing with impressive power and focus. I'd stash this away for at least five more years.
2008 Bethel Heights Vineyard Pinot Noir Estate Grown Eola-Amity Hills - 90($30) Pungent, floral-accented aromas of cherry-cola and dark berries, with a sexy note of Indian spices emerging with air. Fleshy and smooth, with sappy dark berry flavors and notes of allspice and black cardamom. This very suave pinot finishes with strong thrust and sweet persistence.
2009 Bethel Heights Vineyard Pinot Noir Willamette Valley - 88($28) Strawberry and spices on the nose, along with a subtle floral quality and a touch of black tea. Fresh, focused red fruit flavors show good intensity, no excess weight and a tangy spine of acidity. With its good finishing cut and tangy persistence, this is very easy to drink.
2008 Bethel Heights Vineyard Pinot Noir Flat Block Eola-Amity Hills - 92($50) Bright, assertive aromas of strawberry and raspberry, with complicating Asian spice and floral accents. Juicy, precise and alluringly sweet, offering lively red berry and cherry flavors and an exotic spicecake quality. Suave, silky and precise, finishing with excellent clarity and persistence.
2008 Bethel Heights Vineyard Pinot Noir Southeast Block Eola-Amity Hills - 92($50) High-pitched aromas of raspberry, cherry, Asian spice and fresh flowers, with a touch of white pepper. Lively and precise on the palate, offering sappy red berry and floral pastille flavors underscored by tangy minerality and a note of blood orange. Impressively pure and focused, but there's depth here too. Finishes on a bright, spicy note, with lingering florality. I really like this wine's balance and precision.
2008 Bethel Heights Vineyard Pinot Noir Carter Vineyard Eola-Amity Hills - 91 (+?)($50) Aromas of blackberry, cherry-vanilla, sassafras and potpourri, with slow-building spiciness and a hint of musky underbrush. Pliant and deep in dark fruit flavors, with a firm mineral spine and late tannins adding structure. Powerful but very well-balanced pinot noir, finishing with excellent clarity and spicy persistence. I'd age this for another five years or so and then serve it with grilled red meats.
2008 Bethel Heights Vineyard Pinot Noir Justice Vineyard Eola-Amity Hills - 92 (+?)($50) Pungent aromas of blackberry, cola, violet and black tea, with a brighter mineral quality emerging with aeration. Juicy, palate-staining dark berry flavors possess very good depth and show a gentle sweetness. Floral pastille and spicecake nuances come up on the back half and carry through a long, sappy, focused finish. The most serious of this year's set of pinots right now; give it plenty of air if you want to drink it any time soon.
2008 Bethel Heights Vineyard Pinot Noir West Block Eola-Amity Hills - 92($50) Black raspberry, incense, dried rose and allspice on the nose, with a sneaky note of cola gaining strength with air. Sappy and concentrated, with sweet red and dark berry flavors and a hint of bitter cherry. Leads with its fruit today and finishes with impressive energy and lingering spiciness. Give this some air if you are compelled to drink one now.
Wine Advocate, Robert Parker, October 31, 2010
"Bethel Heights' most recent collection is uniformly outstanding."
The 2008 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley has a lovely bouquet, particularly for an entry-level wine. Aromas of cedar, spice box, rose petal, and an amalgam of red and black fruits leads to a medium-bodied, ripe, moderately structured wine with 1-2 years of aging potential. With ample spicy fruit, good volume, and a fruit-filled finish, it will provide considerable pleasure over the next 6-8 years.
2008 Bethel Heights Pinot Noir Estate Grown - 91The 2008 Pinot Noir Estate Grown is a bit darker in color with an expansive, spicy bouquet, cherry, and black raspberry aromas leading to a wine with excellent concentration, layers of fruit, and enough ripe tannin to evolve for 2-3 years. This well-balanced, lengthy wine will be at its best from 2012 to 2020.
2008 Bethel Heights Pinot Noir Casteel Reserve - 92The 2008 Pinot Noir Casteel Reserve is a blend of the winery's best barrels. The process of selection must have been quite a task given the raw materials. The expressive bouquet of sandalwood, Asian spices, underbrush, rose petal, incense, and assorted black fruits leaps from the glass. On the palate it displays dense, succulent fruit, outstanding volume, precision, and balance. Give it 5-6 years in the cellar.
2008 Bethel Heights Pinot Noir Estate Flat Block - 92The 2008 Pinot Noir Flat Block Estate is medium ruby red with more focus on the red fruit side of the spectrum. Asian spices, incense, tobacco, cherry, and raspberry aromas lead to an elegant, succulent, velvety-textured wine that contains enough density and richness to blossom for another 4-5 years.
2008 Bethel Heights Pinot Noir West Block - 92The 2008 Pinot Noir West Block sports a similar aromatic profile that jumps from the glass. Denser, richer, and more succulent, it is a beautifully rendered wine that combines elegance with power. Give it 3-4 years of additional bottle age and drink it from 2013 to 2023.
2008 Bethel Heights Pinot Noir Carter Vineyard - 93The 2008 Pinot Noir Carter Vineyard offers darker fruits, loads of spice, and great volume. The flavors are savory, succulent, and already complex, but it is only going to get better for those able to delay gratification for a few years.
2008 Bethel Heights Pinot Noir Justice Vineyard - 91The 2008 Pinot Noir Estate Justice Vineyard amps it up aromatically with an aromatic array of cherry blossom, Asian spices, incense, black cherry, and black raspberry. On the palate it displays richness, succulent black fruit flavors, nicely concealed tannins, and excellent volume. This lengthy effort offers a drinking window extending from 2013 to 2023.
2008 Bethel Heights Pinot Noir Southeast Block - 91The 2008 Pinot Noir Southeast Block adds a touch of minerality to its aromatic display. It is only 13% alcohol but the amount of fruit crammed into this medium-bodied offering is striking. Savory, ripe, and balanced but only a shadow of what it will be in 4-5 years, it demands significant cellaring to display its full potential.
"Also presented, but no tasting note given. These represent excellent to outstanding value."
- 2009 Bethel Heights Pinot Blanc Estate Grown - 89
- 2008 Bethel Heights Chardonnay Estate Grown - 90
- 2009 Bethel Heights Gewürztraminer - 90
- 2009 Bethel Heights Pinot Noir Rosé Estate Grown - 90
O The Oprah Magazine, Rachel Mount, October 2010
"Pat Dudley, advocate for certified wine and cofounder of Bethel Heights Vineyard, Salem, Oregon..."
Business Week, Nick Passmore, September 16, 2010
"Bethel Heights Vineyard in the Willamette Valley has been producing Oregon pinot noir at its best for more than four decades."
International Wine Cellar, Stephen Tanzer, July 2010
2008 Bethel Heights Vineyard Pinot Noir Willamette Valley - 90($28) Bright ruby. Pungent, sexy scents of dried red fruits, star anise, allspice and rose. Lively and precise on entry, then gains flesh and breadth in the mid-palate, offering sweet raspberry and cherry compote flavors and showing no rough edges. The finish is juicy, seductively sweet and very long. A very impressive "basic" bottling that bodes well for the later-release single-site and reserve bottlings from this vintage.
2007 Bethel Heights Vineyard Pinot Noir Flat Block Eola-Amity Hills - 90($50) Full red. Fresh red fruits and potpourri on the nose, with hints of exotic spices and herbs. Silky and sweet, with finely etched red fruit and floral pastille flavors and no rough edges. Shows the graceful, balanced character of the best 07s, and finishes with very good clarity and lingering spiciness. This will age on its balance.
2007 Bethel Heights Vineyard Pinot Noir Justice Vineyard Eola-Amity Hills - 90($50) Bright red. Sexy, complex scents of fresh red berries, incense and musky herbs. Supple, open-knit red fruit flavors are nicely spherical and precise, with a late note of white pepper adding vibrancy. This juicy wine is drinking very well now but its balance bodes well for cellaring.
2007 Bethel Heights Vineyard Pinot Noir Casteel Reserve Eola Amity Hills - 90($60) Saturated ruby-red. Pungent, deeply pitched aromas of blackberry, cherry-cola, star anise and mocha, with a subtle floral quality that gains strength with air. Juicy, penetrating cherry and dark berry preserve flavors are framed by supple tannins that gain strength on the back half. At once rich and lively, with impressive finishing breadth, precision and spicy persistence. Shows very good depth for the vintage, as well as the briskness of the year, and should reward several years of bottle aging.
