Bethel Heights Vineyard

Bethel Heights Vineyard was founded in 1977, in the second wave of plantings that established the modern Willamette Valley wine industry following David Lett's 1965 founding of The Eyrie Vineyards. Twin brothers Ted and Terry Casteel, their wives Pat Dudley and Marilyn Webb, and Pat's sister Barbara Dudley left academic careers to acquire the property in the Eola-Amity Hills, then unrecognized as a distinct AVA, and clear an abandoned walnut orchard to plant the first roughly 14 acres of Pinot Noir, expanding to the original 50-acre parcel by 1979. The Eola-Amity Hills designation followed three decades later, in 2006, when the area was recognized as a distinct sub-AVA of the Willamette Valley. Bethel Heights's original 1977 plantings are among the oldest in what became the Eola-Amity Hills sub-AVA, and the estate produced its first commercial vintage in 1984.

• Founded 1977 by Ted and Terry Casteel, Pat Dudley and Marilyn Webb, and Barbara Dudley
• Founders left academic careers to clear an abandoned walnut orchard and plant the first roughly 14 acres of Pinot Noir, reaching the original 50-acre parcel by 1979
• Among the oldest estates in what became the Eola-Amity Hills AVA, recognized in 2006
• Original 1977 Pinot Noir plantings are among the oldest in the Willamette Valley

The Bethel Heights estate has grown from the original 50-acre parcel, planted out between 1977 and 1979, to approximately 82 acres of vineyard, with the most significant addition being the adjacent Justice Vineyard, established in 1999. The original estate sits on a south-facing slope in the Eola-Amity Hills with shallow, well-drained volcanic basalt soils, while the adjacent Justice Vineyard is planted on marine-sediment soils, conditions the founders identified as well suited to Pinot Noir based on observation of the original wild vegetation. Plantings are approximately 85% Pinot Noir, 13% Chardonnay, and 2% Pinot Blanc, a varietal mix typical of foundational Willamette Valley estates of the 1970s and 1980s. Single-block bottlings of Pinot Noir from individual estate parcels allow direct site-to-site comparisons within the estate.

• Estate has grown from the original 50-acre parcel (planted out 1977 to 1979) to approximately 82 acres
• Justice Vineyard, established 1999, is the most significant adjacent expansion
• South-facing slope with shallow, well-drained volcanic basalt soils on the original estate; marine-sediment soils at Justice Vineyard
• Plantings approximately 85% Pinot Noir, 13% Chardonnay, 2% Pinot Blanc

Ben Casteel, son of co-founder Terry Casteel and Marilyn Webb, has led winemaking at Bethel Heights since the 2000s and represents the second generation in active management of the estate. His cousin Mimi Casteel is a co-owner, director, and the estate's viticulturist. The Casteel Pinot Noir, named in tribute to the founding family, is the estate's tête de cuvée, first produced in 2002, a barrel and block selection chosen each vintage to express the estate's best and the only Bethel Heights Pinot Noir that carries the family name rather than a place name. Beyond Casteel, the estate produces single-block Pinot Noirs from individual parcels, an Eola-Amity Hills Pinot Noir blend, Chardonnay, and small quantities of Pinot Blanc. The transition to the second generation has preserved the original stylistic framework: classical Willamette Valley Pinot Noir built around perfume, balance, and aging potential rather than power or extraction.

• Ben Casteel, son of Terry Casteel and Marilyn Webb, leads winemaking as the second generation
• Casteel Pinot Noir is the estate's tête de cuvée; a multi-block selection
• Single-block Pinot Noirs allow direct comparison across the estate's parcels and clone selections
• Stylistic identity: classical Willamette Valley Pinot Noir built around perfume, balance, and aging potential

Bethel Heights is one of the small group of Willamette Valley estates with original 1970s plantings still in production under continuous family management. The Eola-Amity Hills, now recognized as one of the Willamette Valley's most distinctive Pinot Noir sub-AVAs, counts Bethel Heights among its oldest estates, planted on this particular ridge in 1977. The original 1977 to 1979 plantings are among the earliest Pinot Noir vines in the Pacific Northwest; most of those own-rooted blocks have been progressively replanted from 2019 after phylloxera, while the Casteel Pinot Noir continues to define what is possible from the estate. For students of the Willamette Valley, Bethel Heights is a foundational reference, and the estate's continued family management makes it one of the cleanest stylistic continuities in the appellation.

• One of the oldest Eola-Amity Hills Pinot Noir estates, planted in 1977
• Original 1977 to 1979 plantings were among the earliest Pinot Noir vines in the Pacific Northwest; most own-rooted blocks replanted from 2019 after phylloxera
• Continuous family management across two generations, with second-generation winemaker Ben Casteel leading the cellar
• Casteel Pinot Noir is the estate's tête de cuvée and a definitive Eola-Amity Hills reference