94pts Robert Parker

The 2021 Chardonnay Estate features creamy lime panna cotta, green pear and smoky flint tones on the nose at this youthful stage. Light-bodied and silky, the palate is tight and focused yet concentrated, and its long, ethereal finish suggests there's more to come. Give it another 3-5 years to unwind in the bottle.

Winemaker Notes

The 2021 vintage gave us a bit of everything, from explosive heat events in the Summer to a quick transition to cool, dry Fall weather arriving at the end of September. We typically pick Chardonnay in a fairly compressed window, but in 2021 nearly two weeks separated our early picks from the last, and with the added hang time, we had a very broad color palette to choose from at the blending table. The result is a wine brimming with citrus and tree fruits while maintaining freshness and vibrancy throughout the palate.

Vintage Notes

Throughout the Willamette Valley, 2021 is considered an outstanding vintage. It was generous in terms of yields, ripeness, and quality and health of the fruit. Overall, the growing season was earlier than average. Harvest started on Sept 14 and finished on October 12. There were a couple of extreme heat events early in the summer that were devastating to some crops in the Valley, but in the vineyards the timing was just right to scour the powdery mildew out of the vineyard without harming the fruit, which had not yet begun to soften. August was also very hot, but temperatures cooled significantly in September, and rain showers in September and early October allowed us to take advantage of an extended ripening period for enhanced flavor development.

Vineyard Notes

Chardonnay has been the preeminent white wine at Bethel Heights since the first vines were planted here in 1977. Today we have five different blocks of Chardonnay planted on various benches and slopes around our Estate vineyards.

Bethel Heights Vineyard and Justice Vineyard achieved Organic certification in 2021, Hope Well Vineyard in 2015. Beyond organic, all three estate vineyards are committed to continual reduction of off-farm inputs and continual reduction of energy and water consumption. We maintain a permanent green cover in the vine rows to build healthy soils, to sequester carbon, to mitigate erosion, to retain moisture, and to promote maximum biodiversity.

Organic