WTN: 94 Spat, 02 Belle Pente, 02 Hamacher & 2 Le Cadeau PNs

Tom Mortimer was nice enough to share some sold out wines with me. Greatly appreciated as I wanted to become more familiar with what Le Cadeau is doing.

1994 Schloss Schönborn Hochheimer Hölle Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Rheingau (9/3/2008)
This seemed simple and integrated. Aromatics were fairly light and the palate could have used more secondary elements but an enjoyable 14 year old bargain. I still have a few bottles coming. The sweetness paired nicely with the food. The finish was uninspired.

2002 Belle Pente Pinot Noir - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (9/3/2008)
Who would have thought this was a 2002. I would have certainly guessed it as a 2006. Fresh candied fruit. I think I would have enjoyed this on its own, but next to the other wines, the candied quality stood out. The wine is still so fresh so maybe a few more yours will tone that quality down. There doesn't seem to be any hurry to drink this.

2002 Hamacher Pinot Noir Oregon - USA, Oregon (9/3/2008)
This wine was much more awkward. Oak, tannin and acid quickly masked to the fruit leading to an odd finish. Darker and more brooding. This seemed to be taking on the more tannic aspects of the vintage. I have no experience with the wine and could not tell if it best days are behind it … or in front of it.

2002 Le Cadeau Pinot Noir - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (9/3/2008)
For me this was the most harmonious wine of the evening. Nice purity of fruit but revealing little bits of secondary elements. I would hold this for a few more years although it is in a very nice place right now. Not the most complex wine but it has what I am usually looking for. Great texture and acid so it works right in with food but also a strong presence of fruit so it could be sipped outside on a warm evening. The wine is a bowl of lightly spiced red cherries. My WOTN

2004 Le Cadeau Pinot Noir Rocheux - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (9/3/2008)
We had discussions about what we were getting off the nose. I noticed oak, dill and what seemed to be whole cluster (not sure if there was any used). Compelling for me. On the palate the wine was fairly seamless and pure but un-evolved. Primary bits dominate the palate. What I liked about both Le Cadeaus is that they showed ripe fruit making them pleasant sippers but they had no heaviness on the palate. This is what I enjoy in a young pinot. The Rocheux is still young and although I am not sure it will make old bones, I would leave it alone for another 3 years. I enjoyed this wine much more than the 2004 Diversite.

Cheers, Jason

[Jenise]

2002 Hamacher Pinot Noir Oregon - USA, Oregon (9/3/2008)
This wine was much more awkward. Oak, tannin and acid quickly masked to the fruit leading to an odd finish. Darker and more brooding. This seemed to be taking on the more tannic aspects of the vintage. I have no experience with the wine and could not tell if it best days are behind it … or in front of it.

I brought two bottles of this home from Oregon...when? Let's see, I was on a boat shopping trip, so it was April-May of 07. It was dark and heavy--from extraction, I presume--and a style I don't generally approve of, but I found it oddly attractive when I tasted it at a Portland wine bar and better than what you describe. Attractive enough to bring two bottles home just to see what happened to them. I opened one a few months later to get a better benchmark sense of it, and where I found it drinking well enough I honestly thought that it needed a lot more time. Huge tannins as you note, but certainly enough fruit to go some distance and I don't plan to drink my last bottle until 2010. But I'm really no more certain than you are that it can last.

The Hamacher was definitely the `bull in the china shop' that night. I still have about a 1/3 of the bottle remaining, and the glass I had a day or two back did not reveal a wine that was integrating or becoming more refined. It's a CA-style bruiser in Oregon clothing.

I can't really improve on your notes, Hague; the Belle Ponte we all thought was very young, and it was not meant in an entirely good sense, with all that candiness. Both of the Le Cadeau's were very good, with the nod to the 2002, which you also preferred. A very nice and balanced wine.

It's interesting that Oregon wines can show the same diversity of style as others, and by that I think I mean how one can detect in some more than others the hand of the winemaker and his/her tools of the trade.

[Jenise]

It's interesting that Oregon wines can show the same diversity of style as others, and by that I think I mean how one can detect in some more than others the hand of the winemaker and his/her tools of the trade.

So true. And Tom hires a different winemaker for each of the Cadeaus, doesn't he? They were pouring all three pinots in the Ponzi tasting room in Dundee when I was down there last October and I got to taste the line. The wines were good, but there was so much going on in the tasting room that day and Cadeaus were unfamiliar to me by reputation, so I wasn't able to put them in context. I just remember thinking they were good but rather expensive.

Jenise.. did you get a chance to eat at the Dundee Bistro next door to Ponzi? We really enjoyed it...

I had no prior experience with the Le Cadeaus either... but worth trying.

[Jenise]

Jenise.. did you get a chance to eat at the Dundee Bistro next door to Ponzi? We really enjoyed it...

No, but the smells coming out of there on a Sunday afternoon were spectacular. I was surprised to even discover it was there--when asking for reccos before we went down, it hadn't shown up on anyone's list. But the food looked plenty worthy.

Jenise.. did you get a chance to eat at the Dundee Bistro next door to Ponzi? We really enjoyed it...

No, but the smells coming out of there on a Sunday afternoon were spectacular. I was surprised to even discover it was there--when asking for reccos before we went down, it hadn't shown up on anyone's list. But the food looked plenty worthy.

Oh, yeah. The Dundee Bistro is an obligatory lunch stop for us when doing our biennial Willamette Valley post-Xmas crawl. Great food, good atmosphere and can accomodate a rowdy crowd of wine tourists.

Mark Lipton

So true. And Tom hires a different winemaker for each of the Cadeaus, doesn't he?

He does. I don't know the woman that made the 02 but the 04 Rocheux was made by Harry P-N.

Jason

The 2002 and the2003 were both made at Deponte by their winemaker Isabelle Dutartre. This is back in the days when there was only 1 Le Cadeau Pinot made per vintage. In 2004 Tom had then changed to 3 different winemakers each using a different block.

Thanks for the info.