2008 Bethel Heights Pinot Noir Southeast Block Reserve

A fairly evolved mingling maritime salinity and alkalinity with scents of game and shrubby herbs informs the nose of Bethel Heights’ 2008 Pinot Noir Southeast Block. Fresh cherry fruit emerges clearly on the palate, revealing that this wine is anything but fatigued, merely possessed of secondary, evolved complexity. Stoniness and cherry pit piquancy tug the finish in a somewhat austere direction, but a sense of satiny patina is flatteringly evolving here, too. I expect this will be worth following for another 6-8 years. Ben Casteel returned home in 2005 from a stage in Burgundy and a five year stint at Rex Hill to work a crush alongside his father and founding winemaker Terry; after which, he took over that job. Cousin Mimi Casteel – whose background is horticulture and forest ecology – acts as both general manager and viticulturalist. This site northwest of Salem, whose oldest block dates to the Casteels’ original 1977 and 1979 plantings, is known for consistently delivering fine Pinots, although the Casteels also source somewhat beyond its bounds and are serious about white grapes – theirs and those of neighbors – as well, even if with mixed success. The team here is beginning to favor a certain percentage of whole clusters and stems in Pinot depending on vintage, though fermentation is usually still induced by inoculation. Tel. (503) 581-2262