The nose here is fresh and chalky with a fresh, flinty edge to the sliced pears, apple pastry and white peaches. The palate has a fresh attitude with good focus on entry and a build of lemons and grapefruit with peaches and pears, then apple pie to close. The pick of the crop each vintage at Bethel Heights.
BOW (9)
Robert Parker (97)
The 2021 Chardonnay Casteel is complex and alluring, offering dynamic aromas and flavors as it unfurls with oxygen over several days. The nose offers lemon peel and panna cotta, spicy, honeyed undertones and streaks of flint. The medium-bodied palate is satiny and expansive with impressively concentrated, slightly exotic fruit driven by focused acidity, and just enough smoky reduction adds even more complexity to its generous fruit. Year after year, the Casteel is one of the best Chardonnays coming out of Oregon, and this 2021 is especially gorgeous!
Jeb Dunnuck (96)
The bright yellow straw-hued 2021 Chardonnay Casteel is elegant and floral, with a more refined perfume of lemongrass, delicate baking spice, green apple, and fennel. Silky and refined, a note of citrus oils coats the palate with a spine of fresh acidity underneath, and it has a long finish. It’s going to need a few years in the cellar but will drink well over the subsequent 10-12 years.
Decanter (97)
A gorgeous Chardonnay from estates vines planted in 1977 and 1994. This is a showy wine that retains its elegance while flirting with opulence. Lemon cream, nutmeg and petrichor announce the aromatics alongside a touch of ginger. The palate is impressive. Smoky flint leads into lanolin, almond cream, cardamom, baked apple and just a hint of cheese rind. This beautiful wine comes together wonderfully, showing just how impressive Willamette Valley Chardonnay can be.
