Le Cadeau Vineyard Cote Est Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, USA

點(diǎn)擊次數(shù)：5135

From a difficult, early harvest that featured berry-shrivel and late August rain, the Le Cadeau 2004 Pinot Noir Cote Est – vinified and raised by Josh BergstrOm with a bit of ostensibly ameliorative fruit from Rocheux; and tasted alongside the young 2011 – is sweetly berry-fruited and spicy, though with a faintly decadent overtone of smoky autumnal foliage and decomposing forest floor. There’s also a touch of mocha and garland of iris as this opens. The palate is quite silken and retains ample primary juiciness. A scallop like sense of saline, subtly sweet savor adds utterly intriguing and compelling allure – not to mention saliva-inducement – to a still flourishing finish. This is what comes of a “bad” vintage in which Mortimer had trouble assigning the fruit to winemakers because so much of it had been compromised by uncooperative weather! Lucky are those who not only bought this but still have bottles to revisit over the next year or two. “We spent around $25,000 dollars extra on farming,” relates proprietor Tom Mortimer of the 2011 vintage, specifically due to “l(fā)arge clusters that necessitated us dropping to one cluster per shoot. And as soon as there was anything to cut off, we got rid of all the shoulders. And then – since we still had more than we wanted in these very cool conditions – we went in and did individual cluster surgery, taking off ears and tails. We farmed the heck out of the vineyards,” he concludes, Aand were then super-cautious with vinification and in choice of barrels (for eventual assemblage), bottling only very small volumes: 75-150 cases of our top-tier cuvees. (In addition to Mortimer’s further collaboration with Jim Sanders under the Aubichon label that serves as an outlet for lesser Le Cadeau barrels, the two also release wines under the name “Jolete” that involves fruit from both of those other projects. Notes on recent releases will be found in this report under the name of each label.) Given this incredibly rocky site’s high elevation, it’s perhaps unsurprising, once the exceptional circumstances of this vintage are granted, that picking here continued into the first week of November. For much more about this amazing vineyard high up on Parrett Mountain; its diverse blocks; and its vinification by multiple winemakers, please consult Issue 202. (The Cote Est and Rocheux bottlings are labeled “Oregon” but not “Willamette Valley” due to restrictions imposed by their being raised in California winemakers’ facilities.) Tel. (503) 625-2777

This concentrated, stiff young wine is scented strongly with herb and earth. The fruit is packed tight, and flavors show as much spice and herb as they do sweet fruit. Dense and unyielding, it suggests more than shows its textural complexity at the moment. Give this a lot of breathing time.——P.G.(4/1/2007)—— 91