Bethel Heights Aeolian Pinot Noir 2022

ÆOLIAN PINOT NOIR
Named for the wind that defines our EolaAmity Hills AVA, the Æolian Pinot Noir is our vehicle to explore the dynamic evolving landscape that we farm. The sense of place and specificity that we value most highly in our wines takes many years to evolve. With our oldest vines we allow each block to speak for itself in a separate bottling. The second-generation vines at Bethel Heights, on the other hand, are just beginning to find their voice. In these years in between, the Æolian allows us the freedom to dream of what lies beyond the horizon.   THE 2022 VINTAGE I would sum up the 2022 vintage as lucky; without precedent and very lucky. Had October been anything like it normally is, we would have struggled with phenolic ripeness, analytical ripeness, really all of the ripenesses.  A very wet Spring followed by a cooler than normal early Summer had me concerned about how deeply into October we would probably be harvesting, fears compounded by the sheer size of the crop we set, even after thinning to one cluster per shoot.  There were moments when it seemed we might struggle to get ripeness to where we wanted, and then those moments blurred into a series of high 70s low 80s temperatures….in October. In the middle of October. I’ve lived in Oregon my entire life and I’ve never seen anything like it. Pessimism quickly became optimism as the endless Summer of 2022 rolled on for an extra month. It was our warmest October on record.  For sheer volume, 2022 was one of the most generous vintages in recent memory, and at this state of play the wines are very exciting, show tremendous potential and fascinating variations based on pick date and site. Ben Casteel, February 2023

2022 PINOT NOIR    ÆOLIAN

Certified Organically Grown Fruit

source:  Bethel Heights East 115 and East 777 and Justice 943 and 777 Harvest date: October 12, 2022 Grapes at harvest: Brix 23, pH 3.2, TA 6.2 gr/liter Finished wine: Alcohol 13.4%, pH 3.55, TA 5.6 gr/liter Barrel aged 10 months in French oak, 25% new barrels 1000 cases produced Bottled unfined August 3, 2023

VINIFICATION: The harvest window was tight for the Æolian because all the fruit was sourced from blocks that typically favor poise and finesse over power. All the fruit was destemmed into a mix of 1.5 ton bins and 3 to 4 ton stainless steel tanks. Cap management began with punch-downs for the first few days of active fermentation and shifted to pump-overs after we reached a peak temperature of 88° F.  The wine was pressed at dryness and aged in barrel for ten months.

WINEMAKER NOTES: The Æolian has evolved in the ten vintages since we started making this wine, beginning as a means of expressing the ever-changing nature of our younger blocks and now settling in, as most things do at Bethel Heights, as a wine defined by place. Three blocks planted in 2002 high above the rest of the vineyard continue to make up most of this wine, but in 2022 we decided to include a small amount (20%) of fruit from Justice Vineyard as well. The 2022 Aeolian presents both purity and power; aromas of red cherry, rhubarb, and raspberry, tremendous tension through the mid palate, and delicate fine grain tannins through the finish.