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Hope Well Wine

Mimi Casteel

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People

The people of Hope Well are as strong and consistent as the land itself. I was so lucky as a child to grow up amongst people I now work beside, who care deeply about their work and know intimately the unique qualities of this place. The gift of steady and constant care over many years is invaluable. Our relationships, our relationships to this place we all love and work together, those are just some of the many benefits of committing to people and people committing to place. These are my people, my family, my friends, and they are the great heart that beats in Hope Well.

front row, left to right: Juan, Javier, Francisco, Serafin (Tito), Vicente (Cente)
back row, left to right: Blanca, Joaquin (Keno), Jose Luis (Fish), Jose Luis, Miguel, Ivan, Mimi

 

Mimi Casteel

Mimi is the daughter of Ted Casteel and Pat Dudley, co-founders of Bethel Heights Vineyard. Growing up working in the vineyard and winery, Mimi gained such an appreciation for the industry that she promptly left home after high school. Armed with a BA in History and Classics from Tulane University, Mimi spent the next year working in various National Forests across the west. Her adventures fueled her passion for studying botany, forestry, and ecology. Mimi earned her MS from Oregon State University in Forest Science, and spent the next several years working as a botanist and ecologist for the Forest Service, living in the backcountry. She could never get past the longing for the vineyard, and working with the vines. Mimi returned to Bethel Heights in 2005, along with her cousin and childhood best friend Ben to take the helm as second generation winegrowers and owners.

In 2015 Mimi left Bethel Heights and began her Hope Well journey, building an island of biodiversity and resilience on her own 80-acre farm, growing grapes for others to support the farm, and making wines to give a voice to the process of regeneration. Firmly convinced that moving from conventional to regenerative agriculture on working lands is the most powerful tool humanity has to reverse climate change, the mission of Hope Well has been to help spread the word by example, one farm at a time.

2020 changed everything. In 2020 the climate delivered a clear personal message that there is no time left for a one-farm-at-a-time strategy to address the climate crisis. In 2021 Mimi made the hard decision to move Hope Well, the wine, the sheep, the chickens, the children, the philosophy, the entire ethos, to a much smaller, integrated farm that allows for the time and personal capacity to do the work that needs to be done now, building strategies and networks that can transform agriculture on a global scale while there is still time.

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All “Letters from the Edge”

  • “Is this thing on?” In which Mimi gets a Microphone November 23, 2022
  • new Hope Well, and new wines! October 15, 2022
  • Bated Breath – Vendange 2021 June 5, 2022
  • New Release 2021 wines from Hope Well June 1, 2022
  • Trees in Viticulture? Podcast with Mimi Casteel May 19, 2022
  • Mimi Casteel Revisited – Is Wine Big Enough, Organic Wine Podcast March 13, 2022
  • Silver Linings January 19, 2022
  • The Nitty Gritty on No-Till December 2, 2021
  • No Time Left October 8, 2021
  • Hope Well Journey July 9, 2021
  • Seeking an Optimum and Never a Maximum – Slow Wine Manifesto March 25, 2021
  • The Regenerate Forum: Regenerative Methods in Viticulture January 20, 2021
  • Outcasts January 4, 2021
  • “Controversial and even Incendiary” Interview with Organic Wine Podcast October 12, 2020
  • Vendange 2020: The Hardest Lessons Yet September 7, 2020
  • Mimi Casteel of Hope Well Wine in Oregon is Crusading for Regenerative Agriculture September 5, 2020
  • NYT: “From Good Wine, a Direct Path to the Wonders of Nature” July 23, 2020
  • Mimi interviewed by Levi Dalton on “I’ll Drink to That!” February 6, 2020
  • Tractor Time Podcast: Mimi Casteel on Regenerative Wine February 5, 2020
  • Mimi Casteel: Imbibe 75 2020 Wine Person of the Year January 22, 2020
  • Who’s Really Trampling out the Vintage? November 27, 2019
  • In Oregon Wine Country, One Farmer’s Battle to Save the Soil October 30, 2019
  • Mimi Casteel Is Betting the Farm August 23, 2019
  • An urgent conversation about the power of regenerative agriculture June 18, 2019
  • An Earth Day Letter to my Friends, for my Friends April 22, 2019
  • Over the Moon: Contemporary Biodynamics & Beyond April 10, 2019
  • New Year’s – Letters from the Edge January 24, 2019
  • A Lively Conversation about Soil Health August 29, 2018
  • Complexity is Stability June 13, 2018
  • Invitation to join the Willamette Valley Oak Accord December 14, 2017

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