THE HEART OF BETHEL HEIGHTS VINEYARD IS PINOT NOIR.
Bethel Heights is a family owned and operated vineyard in the Eola Hills of Oregon's central Willamette Valley. Thirty of the forty-nine acres planted are Pinot noir, including five different clones on seven different slopes. Over the years certain blocks have given us wines of distinctive character deserving special designation, most notably the Southeast Block and the Flat Block. Wines from the Southeast Block have been bottled as separate reserves since 1991.
The Southeast Block is a six-acre section planted in 1979 on a south-facing slope that inclines about twenty degrees between 420 and 520 feet altitude. The vines are 100% Pommard clone, 540 vines per acre, spaced eight feet by ten feet. The vines are vertically trellised and the crop is held close to two tons per acre.
The red clay soils of the Southeast Block are volcanic in origin, about three feet deep and well drained. The mineral composition of the underlying rocks is significantly different from the neighboring Flat Block, which helps explain why these two blocks produce wines of such distinctly different character. The distinctions become increasingly apparent with age, both of the vines and the wines.
Winemaker: Terry Casteel
Vineyard Manager: Ted Casteel
The Back Label
Bethel
Heights Estate Grown wines are certified Salmon Safe, recognizing our
adherence to sustainable farming practices that restore and protect healthy
streams and rivers. For details, go to salmonsafe.org
Contact us:
Winemaker: Terry Casteel
Vineyard Manager: Ted Casteel
Sales/Marketing: Pat Dudley
2000 PINOT NOIR SOUTHEAST BLOCK RESERVE
Certified Sustainably Grown
Harvest date: October 10, 2000
Grapes at harvest: Brix : 23.8, pH: 3.24, TA: 7.3 gr/liter
Finished wine: Alcohol 13.6 %, pH: 3.63, TA: 5.8 gr/liter
Barrel aged 14 months in Center of France oak, 60% new
Bottled unfiltered January 24, 2002
650 Cases produced
Suggested Retail $40
The 2000 vintage followed the typical pattern for a good Oregon vintage. Bloom in mid-June under sunny skies set a large crop that had to be thinned aggressively. Sunny weather persisted through the summer, and a shot of rain in early September kept the vines healthy through a long slow ripening period. We enjoyed a beautiful harvest in mid-October with no rain in sight. This may be the ripest vintage we’ve ever seen at Bethel Heights in terms of physiological maturity of the fruit at harvest – sugar content, sugar/acid balance, and flavors on the ripe end of the pinot fruit spectrum.
Vinification: The fruit was destemmed without crushing. About half was fermented in one-ton open bins with native yeast, the other half in a stainless steel tank with a proprietary yeast from Burgundy. The wine was barreled in French oak (60% new barrels), finished malolactic the following Spring, was racked once, and bottled unfiltered.
| ""Crisp and lively, with pretty blackberry and currant flavors, finishing with just a hint of spicy oak as everything echoes on fine-grained finish." Score 90, The Wine Spectator (June 15, 2002) |
A printable version (pdf file) for this wine can be found here.