The 2009 Pinot Noir Flat Block reveals a delicate perfume of floral notes, red fruits, and spice box. This sets the stage for an elegant offering which surprises with its depth, concentration, and length. Drink this suave Pinot over the next 6-8 years. Bethel Heights Vineyard is moving toward using 100% estate fruit for its wines. They produce a substantial amount of solid quality white wine and around 10,000 cases of Pinot Noir with the Willamette Valley and Estate bottlings accounting for roughly 80% of that total. And if the truth be told, and to the credit of Bethel Heights, the quality of these entry level cuvees is very close to the Vineyard and Block-designated wines at a fraction of the price.Tel. (503) 581-2262; www.bethelheights.com

Coniferous resin, red licorice, and dried cherry scent the Bethel Heights’ 2009 Pinot Noir Flat Block, then migrate to the palate with a similar sense of sweetness and persistence to that observed in the corresponding Justice bottling but also the same relative opacity and deficit of energy and clarity. Yes, there’s acidity here, but by way of a semi-detached tartness. There’s also a bit of overt toastiness from barrel which is similarly not entirely digested. Still, this will give pleasure over the next several 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