SOLD OUT! Is there a better or more consistent wine than Bethel Heights Pinot Noir? Every vintage since the 2014 has scored 91 to 93 points with all of the major wine critics.
Guess what, the 2017 just registered 93 points again! We’ve got 10 cases of this thoroughbred arriving this Thursday, and we’re offering it up at one of the best prices in the country.
2017 Bethel Heights Estate Pinot Noir
93 points James Suckling
SOLD OUT
Everyone is raving about the 2017 vintage in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Vinous Media says: “A number of producers have recently released or soon will be releasing their 2017s and all signs point to yet another outstanding vintage, especially for Pinot lovers who like their wines fruity and extroverted.” Comparable in style to the ’15’s and the ’14’s, this is a vintage that will provide immediate pleasure and lay-down potential.
I loved the 2015 and the 2016 versions of this wine, but the 2017 is the best young Bethel Heights Pinot Noir I’ve ever tasted. And it’s one of the top 2 or 3 young Oregon Pinots that’s ever touched this palate. It’s so polished, complex, and put together. There’s just enough earthy/spicy/savory stuff to balance out the sumptuous mixture of red and dark fruit. The tannin is fine-grained, the acidity is there to keep things fresh, and the texture is seamless. Bravo Bethel Heights!
And James Suckling had similar notes to mine. “A very foresty array of red berries, leaves and herbs with woody spices, all making for a complex proposition. The palate has a nicely contained feel with a fluid build of red to darker cherries, in a very approachable mode. Nicely cast tannin at the finish, which holds well. Drink or hold.”
In case you’re not familiar with this veteran and pioneering producer, let me tell you about them. Since 1977, Bethel Heights has thrived in the Eola-Amity Hills section of the Willamette Valley since. Ted Casteel and friends put their first vines down between 1977 and 1979. As Casteel puts it, this “was before the discovery of phylloxera in Oregon, so we just stuck un-rooted cuttings in the ground and let them make their own roots in place.” Forty years on, these are some of the last own-rooted Pinot Noir vines surviving anywhere in the world, still going strong and producing some of the finest wines of their entire career.
This wine truly encompasses the entire breadth of expression at Bethel Heights. It blends fruit from all the different sections of their estate vineyard, really allowing the vineyard and the Bethel Heights style to ‘speak.’ You get the youthful exuberance of their youngest vines planted in 2002 combined with the brooding, earthy complexity of their old, own-rooted vines to create a symphony of flavors.
This one always and out-scores a bunch of other Oregon Pinots that run 2 to 3 times the price and the 2017 will be no exception. Stop by the store after 2 pm this Thursday to pick some up or use the contact form below to place your order. We’ll get back to you once it’s ready for pickup.
Josh Spurling
Owner, Operator, Wine Monger
Table Wine Asheville