Bethel Heights Vineyard
In 1977, united by their interest in wine, Ted Casteel, Pat Dudley, Terry Casteel, and Marilyn Webb abandoned the academic life and, together with Pat’s sister Barbara Dudley, bought 75 promising-looking acres northwest of Salem, with 14 acres of newly planted cuttings in the ground. They moved to the vineyard in 1978 (except Barbara, who was in California working as a lawyer for farmworkers with the Agricultural Labor Relations Board) and started a new life. In 1979, they cleared and planted 36 more acres. In 1981, they harvested their first crop and started home winemaking in Terry’s basement. In 1984, they produced their first commercial vintage of 3,000 cases: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, all organic and Estate Grown.
For the first thirty years Ted was responsible for managing the vineyards, and Terry made the wine. Pat and Marilyn shared responsibilities for marketing and business management. Over thirty years wine production grew to 10,000 cases, and they made common cause with fellow pioneers to establish the Willamette Valley as the home of New World Pinot Noir.
Meanwhile, five cousins grew up knowing the tidy rows and wild hidden places of Bethel Heights as their backyard playground, science lab, and adventure park. Now they have taken their places as co-owners, co-workers, and stewards of this place.
In 2005, Ben Casteel (son of Terry and Marilyn) took over from his father as Winemaker at Bethel Heights. In 2007 Jon Casteel (second son of Terry and Marilyn) launched Casteel Custom Bottling, a mobile bottling company that serves wineries throughout Oregon, including Bethel Heights of course. Mimi Casteel (daughter of Ted and Pat) worked with the family at Bethel Heights until 2017 when she started farming her own vineyard at Hope Well, and launched her Hope Well Wine project. Jessie Casteel grew up among the vines at Bethel Heights, but now lives in Chicago. Jessie brings a creative outlier perspective to the direction of the family business, and serves as the ambassador in Chicago and points east.
Now there is a new generation of cousins – ten so far – who all come home to Bethel Heights for family occasions, to eat the blackberries and taste the grapes and pat the goats and walk through the ravine to Mr. Hatcher’s haunted house. This place is now for them too.
Philosophy
When the family arrived at Bethel Heights in 1977 they found a flourishing ecosystem in place: healthy living soils, a stream running through a shady ravine fed by a pure clean spring, and a rich diversity of flora and fauna with which they try to live in peace. Above all else they seek to grow their grapes and make wine without diminishing the vibrant life of the land.
Twenty-five acres at Bethel Heights are set aside as a natural wooded riparian area.
Bethel Heights maintains a permanent green cover in the vine rows to build healthy soils, to sequester carbon, to mitigate erosion, to retain moisture, to promote maximum biodiversity above and below ground, and to allow the unseen mycorrhiza beneath our feet to thrive and continue their symbiotic relationship with the vines.
Bethel Heights has farmed without herbicides since 2009, without tilling the soil since 2012, and without any synthetic inputs whatsoever since 2019. Now certified Organic and LIVE.
In the winery they are transitioning to significantly less carbon-intensive packaging, and significantly less water and energy use. Solar panels installed in 2010 provide 60% of energy needs.
Bethel Heights recognizes that they owe their success in all endeavors to the people who work there, in the vineyard and in the winery, and they strive to share success in a just distribution of benefits.
Biography
We found a flourishing ecosystem in place: healthy living soils, a stream running through a shady ravine fed by a pure clean spring, and a rich diversity of wildlife with which we try to live in peace. Above all else, we seek to grow our grapes and make our wine without diminishing the vibrant life of this place.
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