BEN CASTEEL
CO-OWNER, DIRECTOR, AND WINEMAKER
ben@bethelheights.com
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Ben is the oldest son of Terry Casteel and Marilyn Webb, co-founders of Bethel Heights Vineyard. Ben spent his summers working for his uncle Ted in the vineyard alongside his brother and cousins, but left for college with a different career path in mind. A declared English major entering the University of Oregon, it was always Ben’s intention to complete his undergraduate studies, pursue a doctorate in English Literature and secure a University teaching position thereafter. A trip to Burgundy to work the 1999 harvest at Domaine de Perdrix changed everything.
After an exhilarating experience working overseas, Ben returned with a mind to work in the wine industry for a period before graduate school. He took a position as cellar assistant with Rex Hill under Lynn Penner-Ash immediately after returning from France in November of 1999 and spent the next five years working his way up from cellar assistant, to Cellar Master, and eventually Assistant Winemaker under new acting Winemaker and friend, Aaron Hess.
Ben’s father called him in the Summer of 2004 to discuss the future of Bethel Heights after his retirement, and six months later Ben accepted the position of Winemaker at Bethel Heights in January of 2005. Ben strives to continue the model established by his father and family in crafting wines that reflect vintage and terroir at Bethel Heights Vineyard. It is a vision born of thoughtful experimentation, patience, and restraint, and one that he believes can only reach fulfillment at the small winery level. The closer the winegrower’s hands are to their wines and vines, the clearer the voice of the place and time will be expressed in the cask and bottle. It is with this vision and passion that Ben hopes to carry Bethel Heights on into the future.
MIMI CASTEEL
CO-OWNER, DIRECTOR, AND VITICULTURIST/FOUNDER AND WINEGROWER, HOPE WELL WINE
mimi@hopewellwine.com
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Mimi is the daughter of Ted Casteel and Pat Dudley, co-founders of Bethel Heights Vineyard. Growing up working in the Vineyard and winery, Mimi gained such an appreciation for the industry that she promptly left home after high school. Armed with a BA in History and Classics from Tulane University, Mimi spent the next year working in various National Forests across the west. Her adventures fueled her passion for studying botany, forestry, and ecology.
Mimi earned her MS from Oregon State University in Forest Science and spent the next several years working as a botanist and ecologist for the Forest Service, living in the backcountry, but gradually realized that her greatest opportunity as an ecologist in the climate crisis would actually be in private lands and how we manage our agro-ecosystems.
Mimi returned to Bethel Heights in 2005, along with her cousin and childhood best friend Ben, to take the helm as second-generation winegrowers and owners. In 2016, Mimi left Bethel Heights to grow and make wine at her own vineyard, and thus began her Hope Well journey. Firmly convinced that moving from conventional to regenerative agriculture on working lands is the most powerful tool humanity has to reverse climate change, Mimi has become an internationally respected consultant and speaker on regenerative agriculture.
Her Hope Well journey has been well documented along the way in her “Letters from the Edge” blog on her website. In 2025 when Mimi’s father, Ted Casteel, retired as Vineyard Manager at Bethel Heights, Mimi agreed to re-join the Bethel Heights team as Viticulturist, helping to continually improve our farm management practices. Mimi also continues to farm and make wine from her own Hope Well Vineyard, while she pursues her ongoing work to build local, regional and international
networks, towards the goal of recovering high functioning ecosystems on agricultural lands.
PAT DUDLEY
CO-OWNER AND PRESIDENT
pat@bethelheights.com
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Pat Dudley is President and General Manager of Bethel Heights Vineyard. As one of the four founding family members who have operated Bethel Heights since 1978, Pat left behind an academic career in medieval history to focus on building Bethel Heights Vineyard from the ground up. Over the years Pat’s primary role in the family business has been marketing and promotion, Her larger role has been to work collaboratively with like-minded colleagues to establish international recognition for the Willamette Valley as the home of New World Pinot Noir, and to protect the integrity of the Willamette Valley landscape.
Pat served as Executive Director of the International Pinot Noir Celebration for five years (1992-1996), then went on to become one of the founders of Oregon Pinot Camp, serving on its Board of Directors from 2000 through 2009. Pat helped transform the Yamhill County Wineries Association into the Willamette Valley Wineries Association in 2005, and subsequently served on the WVWA Board of Directors for several terms.
Pat also served for quite a few years on both the Oregon Wine Board and the Oregon State Board of Agriculture, with a particular interest in forwarding the cause of farmland preservation and sustainable agriculture in Oregon. Most recently, Pat became one of the founders of the Willamette Valley Oak Accord, dedicated to organizing private landowners to protect endangered habitat in our region.
JENNIFER WOOCK
GENERAL MANAGER
jen@bethelheights.com
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Jennifer joined Bethel Heights as bookkeeper in 2014, but we have known her since school days, when she lived just up the road at her family’s Christmas tree farm and used to babysit for the Casteel children at Bethel Heights, following in the footsteps of her sister Kate. Jen started working part-time in the tasting room at Bethel Heights in 2006, and her talent for making sense out of wacky wine sales software made her the natural choice when the bookkeeper job opened up. Jen’s diligence and vigilance has gradually transformed that job into a full scale “Accounts Manager” position and now we can hardly imagine how we ever managed without her.
KATE CROWE
DIRECT SALES AND CELLAR CLUB MANAGER
kate@bethelheights.com
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Kate became part of the Bethel Heights family when she babysat Ben and Jon Casteel many years ago. In 1996 she started working part-time in our tasting room when it was still just a small space above the fermentation room with a hand-written receipt book. She has been with us ever since, establishing our Cellar Club in 2000, and managing the remarkable steady growth of our direct sales. Kate’s warm smile and gracious hospitality make every visitor to Bethel Heights feel welcome, and are a constant inspiration to our entire hospitality team.
BOB TAYLOR
VINEYARD MANAGER
bob@bethelheights.com
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Bob Taylor is a renaissance man who grew up in Rochester, NY. He graduated from the University of Dayton in 1997 and eventually settled in Oregon in 2006. In 2007, Bob worked crush at Bethel Heights and then went on to learn all sides of winegrowing in vineyards and cellars around the Willamette Valley, including some years as vineyard manager at Amity Vineyards and most recently as Cellar Master at Elizabeth Chambers Cellars, with another stint on the Bethel Heights crush crew in 2017.
As comfortable and competent in the vineyard as he is in the cellar, in 2020 Bob agreed to accept a hybrid full-time position at Bethel Heights that includes responsibilities in both the winery and in the vineyard, as well as managing initiatives to restore habitat and enhance biodiversity and sustainability for the whole property, and growing vegetables for our culinary program.
When left to his own devices Bob can usually be found working on his house, gardening or making dinner with his wife Lisa and their two children Winston and Margaret.
JEFF JOHNSON
ASSISTANT WINEMAKER
jeffj@bethelheights.com
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Jeff has been working at Bethel Heights since January 2020. Since joining the BH team he has worn many different hats including hosting guests in the tasting room. He now works in the lab as our Enologist and in the cellar as part of our winemaking team, and makes time in between to create content for our Instagram.
Prior to beginning his winemaking career Jeff lived in Boise, Idaho where he worked in wine distribution, bartending, and wine retail.
Jeff has a continuous curiosity for learning. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in classical and jazz guitar from Central Washington University, class of 2012. In his free time he enjoys hiking with his wife and two dogs, cooking, skiing, whitewater kayaking, and exploring new wineries and restaurants.
BETSY REED
REGIONAL SALES MANAGER
betsy@bethelheights.com
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In 2018 Betsy left her 20-year higher education career to join the Bethel Heights team, first as a member of our hospitality staff, and since 2022 also serving as our traveling brand ambassador throughout most of the southern states, where she has deep connections.
A graduate of West Virginia University, Betsy worked for several years in North Carolina and then Kentucky in various promotional, marketing and advertising positions, before pursuing a Master of Education degree in 2001. Subsequently, Betsy worked with students at the University of Maryland-College Park, Carnegie Mellon University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of San Francisco in roles ranging from Career Consultant to Dean of Graduate Business Students.
Intrigued by the food-body connection, Betsy pursued her passion to become a raw/vegan chef, graduating from Living Light Culinary Institute in July 2013, and then owning and operating a vegan catering business in Nashville before thinking about a career in wine. Working part-time in the Oregon wine industry while still employed as the Dean of Graduate Business Student Services at Willamette University, Betsy finally decided to move on to what she now terms “funemployment” at Bethel Heights.
Cameron Casenhiser
TRADE RELATIONS AND EDUCATION
cameron@bethelheights.com
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Cameron grew up in Orange, California in a family that inspired a love of cooking, hosting, and gathering around a table. Rather unconventionally, Cameron was introduced to the world of wine while working for a coffee roaster in Los Angeles. He was given the opportunity to consult one-on-one with an Advanced Sommelier, learning to further refine his critical thinking and tasting skills and how to apply them to a new vinous medium. This time coincided nicely with the opportunity to travel extensively throughout Europe. Based in Switzerland for an academic year, Cameron visited many iconic wine regions and learned to appreciate how vast and diverse the world of wine can be.
After completing a Graduate Certificate in Philosophy at St. Andrews, Cameron made his way to Washington, D.C. where he worked as Sommelier and Service Manager in a Michelin starred restaurant group, and later as Assistant General Manager for one of Washington D.C. ‘s longest standing independent wine retail shops.
2022 marked Cameron’s first harvest in Oregon. In 2023, Cameron jumped at the chance to work harvest with Bethel Heights, which solidified not only his love for wine production, but also for this special pocket of the Eola-Amity Hills. When given the opportunity to return to Bethel Heights in 2025, Cameron and his wife, Holland, decided to move their small, growing family from D.C. to Portland.
Following the 2025 harvest, Cameron gratefully accepted a full-time position at Bethel Heights, serving in a hybrid role that utilizes his range of skills in the cellar, sales, and education. When not at the winery, Cameron can be found sipping espresso before long runs, spending time in nature with Holland and their daughter, Sion, and sharing wine around the table with friends and family.
JOSÉ LUIS MARTINEZ
VINEYARD CREW LEADER
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José Luis joined our vineyard crew in 2002 after working for a while in construction and then at another Oregon vineyard where his cousin was the manager. On the job at Bethel Heights he became expert in all aspects of vineyard operations and logistics, from new vineyard layout and planting to canopy management and harvest, and he always worked on the crush crew in the winery when harvest was done. He thus moved up through the ranks until 2019 when he was promoted to Vineyard Crew Leader. José has proved to be an exceptional manager of both people and operations, and an outstanding teacher of viticultural skills to new recruits. The high level of morale on the crew is testament to his mellow good humor combined with his ability to organize the work to make best use of everyone on the team in all seasons.
VICTOR GONZALES RIVAS
VINEYARD EQUIPMENT MANAGER
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Victor Gonzales Rivas came to work at Bethel Heights in 2016, where his remarkable mechanical skills quickly made him indispensable. Victor can fix any piece of farm equipment that crosses his path, and if the vineyard needs something that doesn’t exist, he fabricates it. He also manages the logistics of moving essential pieces of heavy equipment among three different vineyards as if they were pieces on a chess board. Victor is a magician.
KATY FORDYCE
GARDENER
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An Oregon native, Katy’s interest in gardening began during college. She and her partner became the caretakers of a Century Farm, complete with many overgrown flower gardens. To Katy, the work of cleaning, restoring and replanting the gardens felt like the children’s book “The Secret Garden” came to life. From that point on, gardens became a stress relief and a joy in her life.
In 2022, ready for a change after working as a chemist for fifteen years, Katy jumped at the chance to work in the gardens at Bethel Heights. To start, she completely renovated our patio area, creating a space that is more drought tolerant with more diversity and especially more native plants, welcoming beneficial insects and pollinators. She went on to plant a cutting garden at the Lewman Vineyard to supply flowers for the tasting room, while systematically exploring and foraging all the wild areas around our vineyards, gathering wildflowers and foliage in all seasons, and revealing more natural treasures than we ever imagined were living here. Katy has only just begun.
JON CASTEEL
CO-OWNER, DIRECTOR, AND OWNER/FOUNDER OF CASTEEL CUSTOM BOTTLING
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Jon Casteel, son of Terry Casteel and Marilyn Webb, is the youngest of the Casteel clan who grew up at Bethel Heights, working summers in the vineyard along with his brother and cousins. After working a harvest in New Zealand, he came back to Oregon and spent five years at Rex Hill Vineyard, first as Cellar Rat and eventually as Cellar Master.
One of Jon’s responsibilities at Rex Hill was running the bottling line. When the decision was made to re-build the Rex Hill line, Jon asked to go along to observe and participate. His skills and interest increased, and when a good friend and mentor from California called and told him about the availability of a custom-built mobile bottling line, he saw his opportunity. He approached Bethel Heights (i.e. the rest of the family) to form a partnership. In December, 2006, Casteel Custom Bottling became a reality.
Jon has since gone on to buy out his partners and expand his business to include a second bottling truck and a custom bottling facility in the heart of wine country. His scrupulous attention to detail, uncompromising customer service, and infectious good humor, have made him a success from the beginning.
TED CASTEEL
CO-OWNER, DIRECTOR, AND FOUNDING VITICULTURIST
ted@bethelheights.com
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Ted Casteel gave up teaching history at the University of Michigan to grow grapes in Oregon more than thirty years ago and has never looked back. He developed the original fifty-acre Bethel Heights estate vineyard in the late 1970’s, and those 30-year- old own-rooted vines still provide the backbone of our Pinot noir production. In 1999 twenty new acres became available adjacent to Bethel Heights, giving Ted the opportunity to plant Justice Vineyard, using all the latest clones, rootstocks, vine spacing and trellising.
Ted’s commitment to continual improvement of wine quality made him an early adopter of the rigorous crop control and intensive canopy management practices that have become industry standards over the years. And, from the beginning, Ted was committed to maintaining biological diversity and ecological balance on the whole farm, minimizing the use of “off-farm” inputs such as fungicides, synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and diesel. “Our family were all environmentalists before we became farmers,” he points out. Trying to figure out how to make these principles work on the ground, without compromising the quality of the fruit, was the impetus behind Ted’s leadership in the foundation of LIVE in 1997.
LIVE (Low Input Viticulture and Enology), Oregon’s unique sustainable viticulture certification program, was the first and still is the only organization in the United States certified by the IOBC (International Organization for Biological and Integrated Control of Noxious Animals and Plants). Bethel Heights was among the first vineyards certified under the LIVE standards, and released the first LIVE certified wine in 1999. Ted served for many years on the Board of Directors and technical advisory committee of LIVE, which has grown to include almost thirty percent of the vineyard acres in Oregon.
Ted has been active in all of Oregon’s key viticulture activities over the years. He has chaired the winegrape sessions of the Oregon Horticulture Society, the Grapevine Improvement Committee and the Research Committees of the Oregon Wine Advisory Board. He helped establish the Chemeketa Community College Viticulture Program, and edited two editions of the Oregon Winegrape Growers’ Guide, still the fundamental how-to book for Oregon grape growers. He served as Chair of the Oregon Wine Advisory Board from 1991 To 1993 and again from 2002 to 2003, and helped create the Oregon Wine Institute.
Barbara Dudley
CO-FOUNDER, CO-OWNER, AND DIRECTOR
barbdudley@aol.com
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Barbara Dudley, sister of Pat, has been a partner in Bethel Heights Vineyard since the beginning. Although not involved in the day-to-day operations at Bethel Heights, as a Director of the Corporation since the beginning, and Chair of the Board from 2007
through 2023, she has always brought a helpful outside perspective to our big-picture
deliberations about the family business and the family farm.
Barbara received her law degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1971, and has since had a long career working with various labor and environmental organizations and projects, starting as a lawyer with the Agricultural Labor Relations Board in California and going on to become Executive Director of the National Lawyers
Guild, and Executive Director of Greenpeace USA from 1992 to 1997. No surprise in 1999 she named our new vineyard “Justice Vineyard.”
After moving to Oregon in 1999, Barbara taught for several years at Portland State University, including courses on Social Sustainability, Advocacy, The Globalization of Civil Society, and Student Debt. She is a co-founder and currently serves as Senior Policy Advisor to the Working Families Party of Oregon. She also serves on the Executive
Committee of the National Working Families Party, and on the Board of the Sunrise Movement.
JESSIE CASTEEL
CO-OWNER, DIRECTOR, AND ROVING AMBASSADOR
jdcasteel73@yahoo.com
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“When your table number matches your age.”
As our roving Bethel Heights ambassador, Jessie can be spotted presenting our wines around Chicago and points east. Daughter of co-founders Ted Casteel and Pat Dudley, Jessie grew up among the vines at Bethel Heights, but she has lived in Chicago ever since she went off to college at the University of Chicago and fell into the tempo of urban life. In addition to her ambassadorial duties, Jessie serves on our Board of Directors where she brings a creative outlier perspective to the direction of the family business, as seen in her famous design for the Bethel Heights Family Skeleton t-shirt. “If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.”
MARILYN WEBB
CO-FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR
marilyn@bethelheights.com
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Marilyn was an assistant dean of women at the University of Washington when she first
met notorious student anti-war activist Terry Casteel. A few years later, when they were married and making a living as practicing therapists in Seattle, they started drinking Burgundy and became wine enthusiasts, and the rest is history. “When we arrived in Oregon, babies in tow, the first thing I did was organize, mostly by phone, for the dinners celebrating winners of the Oregon State Fair wine competition. Some dinners were better than others, as I recall! That would have
been about 1980- 1983.”
Marilyn has been cooking food to go with wine ever since, and has created memorable meals for many special occasions at Bethel Heights. For many years she cooked lunch for the crush crew almost every day during harvest, and made up many new recipes to serve with our wines. But cooking has never been Marilyn’s day job… From the beginning, Marilyn lent her considerable organizational talents and hard work to helping to launch the Oregon wine industry. From 1980 to 1984 she served on theOregon Winegrowers’ Association Board of Directors. In 1983, she edited the secondedition of the Oregon Winegrape Growers Guide, under the title Oregon Viticulture, still the basic how-to book for everyone coming to this new region to grow grapes. When the Oregon Wine Advisory Board came into being, she served as a member from 1984 – 1988, chairing the research committee one year, and as chair of the board from 1986 – 1988, authoring the first Oregon wine marketing plan in 1988. “As I recall, Myron Redford’s calculator, attached to his personal check book, was critical to our first pass at what we grew, how much wine we had, and therefore, how much we had to sell as an industry promoting brand Oregon. Those were the days.” Marilyn also
was active in the early 1990’s with Women for Winesense and was on the SALUD Board
of Directors.
In 1992 Marilyn took an outside job to support college years for sons Ben and Jon, working full time until 2003 for Portland State University as a Director in the School of
Extended Studies, and Director of Training for the Child Welfare Partnership – meanwhile working weekends doing all the bookkeeping for Bethel Heights and helping to keep the business plan on track. In 2003 Marilyn returned to Bethel Heights full time, serving as Chief Financial Officer as well as Regional and International Sales Manager. Since retiring from full-time work, Marilyn has been involved in planning and executing diverse special projects at Bethel Heights. She also served as Treasurer of the Corporation until 2017, and she continues to serve on our Board of Directors.
DEEDEE DUDLEY GUSMAO
CO-OWNER & BRAND AMBASSADOR
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DeeDee Dudley, daughter of Barbara, lives in San Diego, where she has turned her love for children into a successful career as a professional nanny. DeeDee has a special connection to Bethel Heights as the one place she has always come home to for holidays and vacations since her childhood. Like all the cousins, she has her own special places and memories around the vineyard that she now shares with her own daughter whenever they come here. It is this shared sense of continuity that makes DeeDee a special ambassador for Bethel Heights wherever she goes.
TERRY CASTEEL
FOUNDING WINEMAKER, IN MEMORIAM
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Terry was the winemaker at Bethel Heights from our first commercial vintage in 1984 until 2005 when the baton was passed to his son Ben. Most of Oregon’s pioneer winemakers came to the region and to the winemaking profession in unpredictable, illogical and amazing ways; Terry’s route was even more circuitous than most. His first degree was in English Literature from the Presbyterian (read no-alcohol) Whitworth College in Spokane. At Princeton, Casteel was awarded a Master’s Degree in Theology. Back in Washington, at the University in Seattle, Casteel received his PhD. in Educational Psychology. Terry started making wine in his basement in Seattle while earning a living practicing psychology in Seattle in the 1970’s.
Terry’s winemaking style evolved along with our vineyard, and always reflected the intimate connection between Bethel Heights Vineyard and the people who live here. His approach was well articulated in an extended interview following the 1999 vintage: “I look for a transparency in our winemaking that allows the character of the site to show through. We want to express in our wine not just the character of Pinot noir, but the character of Bethel Heights. We want to capture the synergy between this grape and this place.”
Besides making wonderfully expressive wines for our first thirty years, Terry was actively involved in the Oregon wine community, and was a respected mentor to many fellow winemakers. Terry served as a founding member of the Board of the International Pinot Noir Celebration from 1988 to 2002, and served many years on the Board of the ¡Salud! Pinot Noir Auction to support healthcare services for vineyard workers.
Terry passed away on November 30, 2023, at the age of 81, after many years of valiant struggle with Parkinson’s Disease.
