These are two terroir driven, elegant and alluring wines that remind me why I love Oregon Pinot Noir!

May is Oregon Wine Month and I’m thrilled to be sharing these two sample wines from a new-to-me Oregon winery – Le Cadeau Vineyard.

Disclosure: Wines were provided as a media samples. No other compensation was received. All opinions are mine.

2021 Le Cadeau Pinot Noir Rocheux – USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Chehalem Mountains

Fruit for this wine is sourced from the rockiest portion of their estate vineyard planted on soils with a high content of volcanic basalt. Raised in French Oak for 12 months. Dijon 777, Pommard, Wadenswil clones.

Tasting note: Pale ruby color with aromatic pomegranate, blueberry, plum, floral, cola, clay, and baking spice aromas. On the palate, it’s lean, with crisp acidity and well integrated fine-grained tannins. It shows pomegranate, blueberry red plum, earth, black tea and spice flavors with a long mineral tinged finish. 13.5% abv|SRP – $60|184 cases|92 pts

2021 Le Cadeau Pinot Noir Côte Est – USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Chehalem Mountains

Fruit for this wine is sourced form three Eastern facing blocks in their estate vineyard planted on Nekia soils. Raised for 11 months in French oak. Dijon 667, Dijon 115, Dijon 114, Pommard clones.

Tasting note: Medium dark ruby color with aromatic raspberry, caramel, gun smoke, potpourri and damp earth aromas. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied and fresh with black and red raspberry, red plum, black tea and spice flavors with a long spicy finish 13.5% abv|SRP – $60|195 cases|91 pts

These are two terroir driven elegant and alluring wines that remind me how much I love Oregon Pinot Noir!

About Le Cadeau Vineyard

Le Cadeau Vineyard was founded in 1999 by proprietors Tom and Deb Mortimer. “Le cadeau” translates to “the gift”, and in the case of the Mortimer’s, the gift is the beauty of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, joy filled relationships and the freedom and opportunity to pursue their dream.

Their journey began with a 28 acre uncultivated parcel on the south slope of the Parrett Mountain, in the Chahelem AVA. Preparing that parcel for the cultivation of wine grapes was very challenging. The site has considerable variation in topography and soils.

Slash piles the size of small houses, and the ground was nearly all rocks.

Ah, but with challenges comes opportunity. In this case, when planting the vineyard, they did so with the intention of matching rootstocks and Pinot noir clones to soils, slope aspect, and and the concomitant microclimates.

The first six acres of Pinot Noir were planted in 1999. Today they are 16 acres planted on volcanic basalt cobbles that are classified as Witzel.

Le Cadeau produces small batches of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sparkling wine exclusively from their estate grown fruit (see map above the the sources of their cuvées.  They produces about 1,300 case of Le Cadeau annually, along with an additional 2,200 cause under their Aubichon (a partnership between Le Cadeau winemaker Jim Sanders and proprietor Tom Mortimer) and Jolete brands.

They are Oregon sustainably LIVE (Low Input Vit & Enology), and Salmon Safe Certified.