Pale ruby, the 2019 Pinot Noir Cote Est has pretty scents of cranberry sauce, blood orange, iron and dark spices. The light-bodied palate is silky and refreshing with generous layers of savory, spicy fruit and alluring, graphite undertones lingering on the finish.

Pale to medium ruby-purple in color, the 2016 Pinot Noir Cote Est has a pretty nose of black and red cherries and wild blackberries with touches of underbrush and wet leaves plus accents of cardamom and cinnamon stick. Light to medium-bodied, it fills the mouth with ripe black fruits with layers of earth and sweet spice, framed with soft tannins and good freshness, finishing with just a touch of alcoholic heat.

Medium ruby-purple in color, the 2015 Pinot Noir Cote Est has lovely red berry and floral expressions on the nose with underlying baking spices, forest floor and fungi hints. The medium-bodied palate is soft, elegant and finely crafted, with satiny tannins and just enough freshness to lift the finish.

Bottled three weeks previously, the 2014 Pinot Noir Cote Est comes from fairly rocky soils over basalt that rolls to the east in orientation. This was made by winemaker Steve Ryan. It offers an attractive bouquet with wild strawberry, cranberry and cold stone scents that are well defined and gain intensity in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly furry tannin, smooth in texture with mint and rosemary infusing the red berry fruit, which finishes just a little short. It has satisfying freshness but needs just a little more precision to come through.

Reflecting the coolest sector of Le Cadeau in this exceptionally cool vintage and vinified as usual by Steve Ryan, the 2011 Pinot Noir Cote Est projects sage-laced sour cherry along with peppered bacon and other resinous allusions to toasted oak. There is sappy brightness here to be sure, but no saliva-inducing savor; and resinous, woody as well as decadently autumn foliage notes are what linger longest, drying and displacing any sense of juiciness. At Mortimer’s request – because it had been bottled the July week of my visit – I put off tasting this until September, when I did so from two sample bottles. I’m hoping it will benefit from a bit longer post-bottling rest, and won’t attempt yet at this point to handicap its bottle evolution. “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