2017 Bethel Heights Pinot Gris

Bethel Heights, in Salem, was founded in 1977 by Ted and Terry Casteel, Pat and Barbara Dudley and Marilyn Webb. The group was related by marriage or blood ties and shared the same dream of starting a winery. They bought 75 acres for vineyards, planted vines and in 1984 produced their first commercial vintage. Ted Casteel was vineyard manager for 30 years and with his wife Terry was winemaker. Bethel Heights today owns 100 acres of vineyards and produces 10,000 cases a year. The family-owned business now includes numerous sons, daughters and cousins and the Casteel’s son Ben is winemaker. Bethel Heights was one of the first of the Oregon Pinot Noir producers to win acclaim from reviewers, and the estate still focuses on Pinot Noir, though it also makes Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay.

Oregon is the fourth largest producer of wine in the U.S., after California, which produces nearly 90% of all wine made in the U.S., Washington State and New York State. Though winemaking in Oregon started in the 1850s, thanks in part to several German immigrants who planted German wine grapes, as in other American wine regions the Oregon industry folded in the beginning of the 20th century during Prohibition. Starting in the early 1960s modern winemaking pioneers planted vineyards in south central Oregon and the more northern Willamette Valley. Pinot Noir did well in the cool microclimates of Oregon, and by the late 1960s the state was already earning a reputation for its artisanal Pinot Noirs. By the 1970s innovative Oregon viticulturalists were traveling to Burgundy for Pinot Noir clones, and to Alsace for Pinot Blanc clones. Today the state has about 20,000 acres planted to wine grapes and more than 400 wineries. Pinot Noir remains the state’s most celebrated wine, followed by Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Gris. The Willamette Valley just south of Portland is Oregon’s most acclaimed wine producing region.