Closing Date: 10-25-04

OREGON: RECOMMENDED NEW RELEASES

“Overall, 2002, a year of superb weather conditions, offered Oregon wineries the opportunity to craft the finest wines they had made to date, particularly with Pinot Noirs. The work at numerous estates fulfilled the promise of the vintage, which means consumers will find many outstanding Oregon Pinot Noirs on retailers shelves…

Many of Oregon’s 2002 Pinot Noirs have set new benchmarks for quality at numerous estates, including Andelsheim, Bethel Heights, Brick House, Chehalem, Cristom, and St.-Innocent. These wines have superb, pure, fruit-driven, and expressive aromatics.”

Pierre-Antoine Rovani, The Wine Advocate

BETHEL HEIGHTS VINEYARD
2003 PINOT BLANC ESTATE GROWN ($15.00) 87
2003 PINOT GRIS ($15.00) 87
2002 PINOT NOIR ESTATE GROWN ($25.00) 87
2002 PINOT NOIR CASTEEL RESERVE ($40.00) 93
2002 PINOT NOIR FLAT BLOCK RESERVE ($38.00) 91
2002 PINOT NOIR FREEDOM HILL VYD. ($30.00) 92
2002 PINOT NOIR SEVEN SPRINGS VYD. ($38.00) 91+

According to Ted and Terry Casteel, the twin brothers who handle, respectively, the vineyards and winemaking at this family-owed estate, 2002 is the best vintage they’ve experienced in their 25 years of experience. “Everything just seemed to fall into place in 2002,” said Ted, “nature was kind to us for once, and the crop was more than adequate but not too much with yields averaging 2 tons an acre. The following vintage, 2003, was substantially more challenging, an extremely hot and early year with high alcohols.” I agree with the Casteels’ assessment, finding that a number of their 2002s set new benchmarks for this veteran winery.

Two white 2003s were tasted, and both revealed forward personalities with appealing textures and fat. Neither should be cellared for more than a year. The floral-scented 2003 Pinot Blanc Estate Grown is broad, rich, and plush. This fine value reveals honeyed mineral flavors typically found in a Pinot Gris, not a Pinot Blanc. Drink it over the next 12 months. Yellow plums and hints of apricots are intermingled with white flowers in the aromatic profile of the 2003 Pinot Gris. Soft, satin-textured, and expressive, it displays a medium-bodied personality awash in ripe white as well as yellow fruits. A good value, it should be consumed over the next 12 months.

Violets and dark fruits emerge from the glass of the 2002 Pinot Noir Estate Grown. Medium-bodied as well as softly textured in the attack and mid-palate, this dark cherry-flavored wine displays a metallic, slightly compressed finish that prevented an excellent rating. Drink it over the next 3-4 years. Produced from fruit acquired from one of Oregon’s fines, most consistent vineyards, the 2002 Pinot Noir Seven Springs Vineyard bursts from the glass with violets, spices, and black cherries. Medium-bodied, it is packed with gorgeously defined fruit, sports considerable depth as well as concentration, and has a sappy characteristic found in the finest Pinots. Loads of blueberries,. Grapes, and ripe dark cherries can be discerned in its complex personality. This wine is definitely outstanding yet has a bright future. My experience with Seven Springs Pinots is that they get even better with cellaring. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2012+.

The dark cherry-scented 2002 Pinot Noir Freedom Hill Vineyard is a muscular, masculine, concentrated wine. Big, intensely-flavored, and deep, it coats the taster’s palate with black cherries and dark berries. This terroir generally fashions wines with firm tannic backbones yet Terry Casteel, much to his credit, was able to craft a Freedom Hill with tamed tannin while displaying its typically powerful fruit. Projected maturity: 2005-2012.

Dark berries and hints of licorice can be found in the aromatic profile of the 2002 Pinot Noir Flat Block Reserve. This medium to dark ruby-colored wine is medium-bodied, reveals outstanding concentration, and sports a long, seamless finish. Its flavor profile, composed of a myriad of dark fruits (principally blackberries and dark cherries) is spiced with notes of freshly laid road tar. Projected maturity: 2006- 2012.

In the past, Bethel Heights produced only one Pinot Noir blend from different vineyards, their Estate Grown. That is no longer the case. An assemblage of equal parts Seven Springs, Flat Block, and West Block vineyards, the 2002 Pinot Noir Casteel Reserve is a superb debut for this new label. Its sublime aromatics burst with flowers, spices, and copious quantities of dark fruits. Expansive, ample, and wonderfully harmonious, its concentrated, deep character offers loads of highly expressive violet, rose, cherry, blackberry, and blueberry flavors. Having tasted Bethel Heights’s wines from each individual vineyard including this blend, there is no doubt in my mind that the sum is greater than the individual parts. Projected majority 2006-12+.
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"Great Producer / Great Vintage / Great Blend!"
Notes from one of our most successful distributors, Tom Elliot of Northwest Wines Ltd.

2002 PINOT NOIR SEVEN SPRINGS VINEYARD
If the vineyards in Oregon were ranked like those in Burgundy, Joni Weatherspoon's L.I.V.E. certified Seven Springs Vineyard would be an Eola Hills "Grand Cru". Those familiar with the Seven Springs Pinot Noirs from Rex Hill and Penner-Ash know how great the wines from this vineyard can be. Bethel Height's 2002 Seven Springs is extraordinarily delicious, full-bodied and lush, and finishes very long and spicy. Oregon "Grand Cru" at a bargain price!

2002 PINOT NOIR SOUTHEAST BLOCK RESERVE
Another Oregon "Grand Cru" vineyard, this is the richest and most opulent SEB I've ever seen, and I've seen them all. Just as rich, lush and full as the nearby Seven Springs Vineyard, yet with an extra layer of densely packed fruit. The tannins, may be a tad fuller, but are as silky as red wine tannins can be.

2002 PINOT NOIR ESTATE GROWN
This is an even finer than usual Estate bottling from Bethel Heights, due to the great nature of the vintage. Showing beautifully now. Elegant, fragrant, supple, bright.

2002 PINOT NOIR CASTEEL RESERVE
Whereas in the past, all of the best barrels of Bethel Heights Flat Block went into the Flat Block Reserve, and all of the best barrels of Southeast Block went into the Southeast Block Reserve, and purchased vineyards were bottled separately, or went into the Willamette Valley blend - now Bethel Heights has a vehicle with which to blend for ultimate quality, regardless of where the fruit emanates from.

Allow me to explain further by way of what I believe has been a particular shortcoming in Burgundy. Granted, we've all tasted some fabulous ones, but, have you ever wondered why so many Burgundy wines leave you wanting and expecting more (even if just a little bit more) - reputable producers, famous vineyards, fine vintages, and expensive bottles, notwithstanding? What kind of quality would result if the Burgundians blended from the very best amongst their different village's Premier and Grand Cru vineyards? How many more great Burgundy wines would exist? Mon Dieu! But were that to happen, those wines would only be entitled only to the lowly Bourgogne, Cote de Beaune Villages and Cote de Nuits Villages appellation. Reality check: Not likely to ever happen! Now, some are going to say, that to blend in this way, you will lose the "terroir" of the great Burgundy vineyards. I would say that in an ideal world, Burgundy domaines could still bottle the single vineyards, albeit in smaller quantities for the purist crowd, and also bottle a superstar blend, for the hedonist crowd (you can guess which crowd I'd rather drink with, that is if given only one choice), which is exactly what Bethel Heights is now doing.

While we do have emerging Oregon "terroirs" that should continue to be explored and captured, fortunately, we do not have the quality limiting appellation laws that our friends in Burgundy have. Therefore, we are more free to push the envelope of ultimate quality. And this is exactly what Bethel Heights has done with the 2002 Casteel Reserve. The wine is not, nor should it be, the biggest wine in the pack. Rather, it is notable for it's seamless integration of deliciously ripe red fruits and berries, spicy accents, silky, ripe tannins, lush mouthfeel, and long, polished, complex finish. As this wine is a symmetrically balanced orb, with no obvious spikes of "toasty (read: critic-pleasing) new oak" nor is it's structural integrity compromised by "low (read: critic-pleasing) acidity", I'll be surprised (though happily) if the wine media were to rate it more than 90 points. If they miss the boat (as they so often do), then all the more wine there will be from the 500 case production for those who appreciate what great Pinot Noir is truly about. Even the ultimate "terroir" purists should like it...

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