Celebrate Spring at SideBern’s

Wine Dinner featuring the wines of Bethel Heights

& special guest, Co-Owner/General Manager, Mimi Casteel

On Thursday, March 18, 2010, SideBern’s will celebrate the beautiful new produce spring has to offer with a Bethel Heights’ wine dinner.  Chef Chad Johnson will pair six-courses of his award-winning cuisine with these lovely Oregon wines.  Special guest for the evening will be Mimi Casteel, co-owner & general manager of Bethel Heights.

Bethel Heights Vineyard was established in 1977 by twin brothers Ted and Terry Casteel. Both brothers and their partners were involved in completely different professional careers, but their love of wine brought them together in a business venture that has become a family legacy.  Together they purchased 75 promising acres & started a new life.

Bethel Heights is located in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA, a sub-appellation of Oregon's Willamette Valley. The first vines were planted in 1977, and the backbone of wine production still comes from these Pinot Noir vines.  In 1999, Justice Vineyard was established and together these vineyards comprise 70 acres, more than three-fourths planted to Pinot Noir, with Chardonnay and a minority commitment to Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris.

Recently, the Bethel Heights team has expanded to include second generation leadership and ownership, bringing youthful energy, talent and passion into the blend.  Mimi Casteel is one of these additions.  She has a background in horticulture and forest ecology, and is strongly committed to environmentalism. 

Winemaking at Bethel Heights

The Casteel family believes in the old adage that great wine is made in the vineyard. After Bethel Heights’ fruit is harvested the winemaking process emphasizes gentle handling and minimum intervention through all phases of production. Grapes from each section of the vineyard are vinified and aged in separate lots until they are bottled.

In 2002, Bethel Heights began blending selected barrels from several different sites into one reserve Pinot Noir that celebrates the best of the vintage. This wine bears a family name, Casteel Reserve, honoring both the founding Casteel brothers and the new generation of Casteels now joining the family business.

Besides Pinot Noir the winery also makes three white wines: Estate Grown Chardonnay made in a traditional Burgundian style, Estate Grown Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Gris from a blend of Willamette Valley and Southern Oregon fruit. Each is given the same attention to detail in the vineyard and the winery that is given to Pinot noir.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

6:30 -9:30 p.m. at SideBern’s

$125 per person, all inclusive

SideBern's located at the corner of Howard & Morrison Avenues in the SOHO district. 2208 S. Morrison Ave, Tampa, FL  33606

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