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1999 Pinot Noir Bethel Heights Southeast Block

(updated 2/28/02)

2000 (Rex Hill North Block)
2000 (Bethel Heights Wadenswil Clone)
2000 (Stoller Vineyards Clone 115)
1999 | 1998 (Ridgecrest Vineyards 7 Acre Pommard)
1999 | 1998 (Bethel Heights Southeast Block)
1999 | 1998 (Jacob-Hart Vineyard)

Chehalem 1999 Bethel Heights Southeast Block Pinot Noir

The Wine

This wine is very limited and is a result of ongoing experimentation between Chehalem and two close friends at Bethel Heights and Rex Hill. Since 1998 the three wineries have exchanged fruit from key vineyard blocks, making wines that, when assembled into a 3 by 3 tasting array, give insight to the relative influences of terroir, winemaking style and, replicated over several years, vintage. The concept is that vineyard distinctions are important determinants in wine quality, but that winemaking style can often mask nuance site differences. With three different approaches, even the same vineyard can reflect differently. This is the second of three consecutive vintages in which we deviated from our Estate Bottled Only philosophy to learn more.

The Vineyard

Bethel Heights is in the Eola Hills and is on an iron-bearing volcanic soil called Nekia. It is a rocky variant of the red Jory soil series. The vineyard was begun in the mid-seventies and has been owned and expanded in thoughtful caretaking by Ted Casteel, Pat Dudley, Terry Casteel and Marilyn Webb. Ted is the viticulturist and Terry the winemaker at Bethel Heights winery. The Southeast Block is a unique portion of the vineyard that has been treated as a single-vineyard designate by Bethel Heights since the early nineties. The vineyard is known for floral, delicate fruit aspects with light spices.

The Vintage

The 1999 vintage is the second of three excellent vintages in a row. A great year for white wines because of retained acidity, Pinot noir also benefited from good structure and good ripeness, making the vintage good for aging. Some vineyards were exceptional in the vintage, others very good. Ridgecrest Vineyards excelled, with extremely low tonnage of 1.4 tons/acre yielding a density of fruit and structure unparalleled to-date.

Stats

Harvest Data:

Harvested 10/17/99 @ 23.4 brix, 6.1 g/L acid and 3.37pH

Fermentation:

Fermented with indigenous yeasts with 13 days total skin contact, 8 days of that pre-maceration, using 20% whole clusters; acidulated with 0.75 g/L; pectolytic enzyme used for uniform extraction; no post maceration

Cooperage/Aging:

Aged for 11 months with one racking in 1/3 new, 1 year and 2 year French oak

Clonal Selection:

Pommard clones

Bottling:

Bottled 9/20/00 with no fining and no filtration

Bottling Analyses:

Cases Produced:

Suggested Retail:

$39

Release Date:

February, 2002

Winemakers' Comments

This is the typical Southeast Block in balance and finesse, only with extra stuffing. The fruit is full and cherry to back cherry in nature, the structure firmer than normal, probably due to our partial use of whole cluster, and the finish long. Balance is definitely the word for this wine. Weight and structure are seamless. Gives the correct impression of delicate, elegant fruit assertively extracted and structured by the vintage and our style.