From a vineyard just below their original estate, but farmed by them, the Bethel Heights 2010 Pinot Noir Justice Vineyard boasts abundant ripe but tart-edged blackberry suffused with saliva-liberating salinity as well as black tea and bay laurel. With fine-grained tannins and a superb sense of sheer cling as well as vibrant “ping,” this is surely a quintessential, lean and energetic exemplar of its vintage and appellation that ought to perform well for the better part of a decade, during which it will hopefully pick up yet further complexity and perhaps a bit more flesh. 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