April 12, 2019

BETHEL HEIGHTS “Casteel” Pinot Noir 2016

(Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon) $65

In 1978, twin brothers Ted Casteel and Terry Casteel and their wives Pat Dudley and Marilyn Webb all left academia and bought 75 acres in the Eola-Amity Hills of the Willamette Valley with the (then crazily idealistic) plan of planting a vineyard and teaching themselves to make wine. This wine—their 35th vintage of pinot noir—is a glorious example of the sheer elegance and complexity that Willamette Valley pinot can achieve. Gently rich and deliciously savory, the Bethel Heights pinot noirs are never rap music, but rather exquisitely slow waltzes. (13.9% abv)

94 points KM

Available at Vivino.com

Of the four wineries below, which was the first to plant chardonnay in the Napa Valley?

A. Robert Mondavi Winery

B. Schramsberg

C. Kendall Jackson

D. Stony Hill

Stony Hill, a small cult winery on Napa Valley’s Spring Mountain, planted chardonnay in 1948. At that time, there were only 200 acres of chardonnay in the whole state (compared to the nearly 98,000 acres planted today.) Schramsberg Vineyards planted chardonnay for its famous sparkling wines in 1965. The Robert Mondavi Winery’s first chardonnay was planted in 1970. And Kendall Jackson, which is not located in the Napa Valley, made its first chardonnay in 1982 and now makes some 2 ½ million cases of chardonnay annually.

“Knowing what minerality is reminds me of that line about pornography: I know it when I see it.”

—Ted Lemon
Owner and Winemaker
Littorai

BETHEL HEIGHTS “Casteel” Pinot Noir 2016

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