Pat Dudley and her husband, Ted Casteel, were among the beginning of the second wave of Willamette Valley winemaking. They founded Bethel Heights in 1977, in partnership with Ted’s twin brother, Terry, and his wife, Marilyn. Ted grew the grapes, and Terry made the wine.
Ben, the son of Terry and Marilyn, spent many summers in the vineyard alongside his brother and cousins.
“We basically all grew up as indentured labor,” he says. “For the most part, they had us doing shoot positioning, keeping the vineyard tidy, suckering—stuff that small kids could understand. And backbreaking work for anyone over 5-foot-5!”
In college, he majored in English, intent on a teaching career. He’d grown up loving English literature, he says, because living way out in the country meant they had no access to cable TV. Reading was his main recreation.
In 1999, after four years of college and deep in debt, he decided to postpone grad school.
“As an English major without any skills to speak of, I asked my dad what I should do,” says Ben. “He suggested I apply for work in Burgundy.”
That experience transformed his life. Returning home after working the harvest in Burgundy, he suddenly found himself “very hirable.” Rex Hill brought him on board, and he quickly rose to cellar master.
“As an English major without any skills to speak of, I asked my dad what I should do. He suggested I apply for work in Burgundy.”
“I was beginning to see the whole winemaking process borne out over a full calendar year,” he says. “It was a powerful moment. The importance of the work doesn’t stop, but the pace slows.”
Five years flew by at Rex Hill. When his father announced his impending retirement, Ben jumped in.
“I started as winemaker on January 1, 2005,” he says. “I was 27 years old and very much in over my head. He put the keys in my hand and went driving away.”
A decade later, Ben oversees a 12,000-case operation, content to remain at that size.
“We are zigging where the rest of the industry is zagging,” he says. “But if we were bigger, we’d be out selling rather than here staying close to the process.
“I never wanted to dramatically change the Bethel Heights style. If you have a good piece of ground, I think you can only get in the way of it.”