Visits to Johan Vineyards (including 2008 barrels) and Le Cadeau

After my memorial day tasting expedition, I got in touch with a couple wine makers/growers/owners of a few vineyards I had not visited before and we made arrangements to walk the vineyards and taste through the wines.

This is a relatively new winery, with the first production being 2005 Pinot Noir, I believe. After reading about the venture on their website, I was very interested in what they had to offer. I won't repeat what's listed on the site, but environmentally (in the vineyard) and also the stylistic ideals of the wines they're trying to produce philosophically align with what I seek in Oregon Pinot Noir. Reality is a whole other matter, and that's why I came to check them out today.

Viticulturalist and Winemaker Dan Rinke met me at Highway 99, at the gate entrance to Left Coast Cellars. I had not been to this area, but it's really quite pretty throughout. A newly paved private road takes you up through a whole assortment of vineyards, all with very pretty trees and flowers dotting the landscape throughout. I imagine one could have a full day of tastings off of this road alone, if everyone was open to the public. At the end of this road is Johan Vineyards, and behind the gate I was greeted by the owner, Dag Johan Sundby. Upon arrival, we set off on foot for a walk around the vineyard (which here, took a half hour+). For Oregon, this is a very large site. The website states 85 acres, though the blog states "65 acres of gently sloping vineyards on its 175-acre site," and there are many more plots going in as we speak. They can be seen in the distance in this photo:



Currently 95% of production is sold to other wineries, with Dan and Dag keeping some of the best plots for their Estate label. During our walk through the vineyard I asked questions about their farming practices, which are Biodynamic. Dan mentioned the last two places he worked were also Biodynamic, so actually doing otherwise is what would feel new and awkward. They are in the midst of Demeter certification. I enjoyed the conversations during our walk, and it seems as if their ideals are similar to what I seek in wine, with an emphasis on terroir, elegance, class, and ageability. It all sounded good, so I was ready to give the wines a shot. We walked back to what is soon to be their winery and tasting room, and opened some wines. I was quite impressed with their style of Chardonnay.

• 2007 Johan Vineyards Chardonnay Reserve 90 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

  Popped and poured. The nose really pops with spicy lemon, interesting white fruits, and certainly a bit of oak. Tons of acidity on the palate along with light apples and pears. A wallop of acidity on the finish, becoming quite spicy, and also showing a lot of stones, and even large grained sea salt. Very tasty, interesting, and balanced. I was shocked to learn this was done in 2/3rds new French Oak barrels. The wine has fantastic acidity and fruit which stands up to the oak beautifully, and this wouldn't be the wine it is without it. It's almost like a Droin 1er Chablis in a cutting year like 2007.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2008 Johan Vineyards Pinot Gris Estate 85 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

  Popped and poured. Nose smells a bit sweet; like gummy candy. Creamy, soft, and fairly round on the palate. Now the gummies have been heated and reduced, and then poured on my tongue in liquid form. Some mild acidity on the finish and quite a bit of tartness. This finished with about 1% residual sugar (though my guess was more like 2-3%), and done in neutral oak (with complete malolactic fermentation). An interesting Pinot Gris, sure, but not for me.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2007 Johan Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate 88 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

  Popped and poured. It should be noted that this wine was bottled just a few months ago, and will not be released until August. As such, it was quite tight today. Nice earthy spices on the nose; very soft and seductive, yet I can't quite pinpoint all the flavors. On the palate, this shows some moderate dryness, some spice, and feels a bit hollow. Lots of spice on the finish, though still very tight. This certainly shows promise, and the nose is a bit more expressive than the palate, so hopefully this will add some weight in the coming years. Today, it's drinking 88 points, but my bet it'll be higher upon release and in the coming couple of years. Will try again in a year.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2007 Johan Vineyards Pinot Noir Nils Reserve 91 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

  Popped and poured. Like the 2007 Estate, this is not to be released for a number of months. It's almost tasting like a barrel sample today; it's very very tight. Initially I noticed a slight alcohol whiff on the nose, but it seemed to blow off to show some gingerbread cookie dough and subtle fruit. Much brighter fruit on the initial palate attack than the 2007 Estate, along with a great spicy strawberry. Nice tannin profile on the finish with lively acidity and some zingy fruit. The materials here are very good, but it's definitely still shut from bottling. Would love to explore this in further detail in a year. (89-92 points)

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2006 Johan Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate 91 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

  Popped and poured. Smells like a 2006. Big, dark red fruits present throughout the nose, along with fresh, uncut pumpkin and squash. Very big, darker fruits on the palate. Almost chewy; just yummy. Some broad tannins on the finish, and there's certainly some heat coming through. The flavors and fruit here are quite delicious, but the heat on the finish is a little distracting for sure. Could be higher without that, but this still offers a fantastic value.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

After tasting through these wines, Dan and I drove up to Amity where the 2008 barrels are living.

• 2008 Johan Vineyards Chardonnay – USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
  There are three barrels of this, and we tasted two of them. One was still undergoing fermentation and was as such quite odd and not really approachable. An interesting exercise, for sure though. The second barrel showed quite similarly to the 2007 Reserve, perhaps with a hint more fruit on the mid-palate and somewhat lower acidity. I also do think I noticed a little bit more oak flavors here, which is slightly worrying because there's quite a bit of time left in the barrel. Should be interesting to see it come together. It could wind up with a more balanced fruit to acidity ratio in the end (though keep it mind, it was the acidity of the 2007 that I loved). (89-91 pts.)
  
• 2008 Johan Vineyards Pinot Noir – USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
  More 2008 barrels. Here we tasted through about five or six barrels of Pinot Noir. These wines are very promising. All of these barrels are showing very vibrant color, with quite soft, medium body and impressive, sweet tannins (nothing bitter). An interesting note is that all but just a couple barrels are under 13% alcohol... 12.7-12.9% is what's common here. But believe me, these are from fully ripe fruit, showing very nice, bright (if not tending a bit dark) red fruits on the palate. An interesting comparison was of 777 barrels that were 100% destemmed vs 777 barrels that were whole cluster fermented. For my palate, I found the whole cluster barrels to be very balanced, and my favorite of those tasted. Dan mentioned that his stems wind up quite woody, so you don't get any of that greenness often associated with whole cluster fermentation. In fact, there was no greenness at all here, just fantastic balance, showing very pretty floral notes coupled with the fruit and great earthiness and minerality. Nice acidity coming through on the finish as well. Granted I had a small sampling of the barrels, but from what I had I would definitely be curious how a 100% whole cluster bottling would turn out. I would say there was more up front fruit in some of the others, so perhaps the blend would serve it well, though (hey, I'm no wine maker (yet)). But the material here is quite good, and I'm eager to see the finished wines. Do note, these were likely some of the better barrels in the house, likely for the reserve bottling. But they stood up to any of the 2008 barrels I've had thus far. (91-94 pts.)
  

This was definitely a fantastic visit, and I really like the approach Dan and Dag have to the wines (inclusive of vineyard practice and stylistic philosophies). I really appreciate the low alcohol on the 2008... something I think we all need to go back to. We could have something pretty impressive on our hands here in the years to come. They will definitely become a regular trip for me, and a common recommendation. I look forward to the years ahead here. It will be interesting to see how the vineyard grows and gets recognized. Hopefully the wines will speak for themselves, but as we all know that's not all that's required for a successful business. Hopefully the marketing team can step up and get the name out to more places. I'd be curious to hear how many people have heard of them at this stage.

I stayed so long with Dan (4 hours) that I wound up being quite late for my 4pm appointment with Tom Mortimer of Le Cadeau, not arriving until 5:45pm. Tom has another beautiful site, around 800 feet on Parrot Mountain. The diversity of the soil here is quite amazing. One side of the plot has massive boulders throughout it and the other side has this chocolately dirt soil without any rocks. This picture was taken somewhere in between:



Superficially it looks like these rocks were just placed in the rows, but if you look between the rows, where the grass is growing, you can see these same rocks are all throughout the top soil; they were simply brought to the surface when preparing the rows for planting, and are more noticeable without any top cover.

Tom has quite a selection of different Pinot Noir clones throughout the vineyard, including being the only Oregon site of a few recent plantings. His bottlings (each made by a different wine maker), take into account soil, exposure, and clone selection. Due to the rolling nature of the site, there seem to be several microclimates even on this small plot that can effect the way the grapes develop. It seems to be like having several sites in one.



After a walk through the vineyard, we walked back up to the house and began drinking through the wines below, while sitting on the lawn over looking the vineyard. Time seemed to slip easily by as we enjoyed the selections. Conversation was all over the map, from these particular wines, to Burgundy, then to rustic Italian wines, cars, jet boats, then to the merits of the point system. At some point Tom's wife Deb joined us out front and tasted some of the wines with us. Before we knew it the sun was setting on the vineyard and it began growing dark. As I began getting myself ready to leave our conversation and the wines continued to interrupt my departure. By the time I let the Mortimers get to their dinner it was 9:45pm. Whoops!



Now, to the wines. All of these 2007s had very interesting individual character that I appreciate. I do think that for the most part they are still simply too young to be really appreciated today. My guess would be a few more years would be much more fair to them, and if the 2005 is any indication, these too could become quite wonderful wines with a bit of age. For certain, these are wines that will improve in your cellar for 10+ years, and are not simply wines to consume upon arrival. As usual my notes and scores are how they perform for my palate today.

• 2007 Le Cadeau Pinot Noir Rocheux 90 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

  Open roughly an hour before first exploration. Very interesting aromas show fresh herbs (basil and peppermint), rocky clay, chocolate dust, and powdered chalk. Similar flavors continue on to the palate, as this is quite heavy on the briar and chalk, but also shows rocks, nice spicy components, along with an herb infused black tea. Very bright acidity lingers on the finish with the herbal tones, and this develops towards some caramel notes.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2007 Le Cadeau Pinot Noir Côte Est 87 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

  Open roughly an hour before first exploration. Nose shows aromas of new oak, crumbled chocolate, and cookie dough. Lots of oak influenced fruit on the palate, showing nice body. Again, plenty of spicy oak on the finish and drying tannins. This is done in Bordeaux barrels and they definitely impart a different flavors than I'm used to in Pinot Noir. I would have guessed this was more than 55%(?) new oak, but I think it's just the style that throws me. This did improve going on hour three, showing more integration of its components. Judging by how the 2005 showed of this plot (which Tom said was a similar vintage up here), this could put on weight in the years to come.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2007 Le Cadeau Pinot Noir Équinoxe 87 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

  Open about an hour. Very bright, tart fruit on the nose. I get fruit on the palate, but more than anything I keep noticing these flavors of pork ribs with a very spicy, peppery sauce. Seems strange, and I was taken aback the first sip, but every time I went back to it I found this (and liked it). Oak spice and pepper come through on the finish along with subtle Pinot fruit. Fine wine, if a bit light.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2007 Le Cadeau Pinot Noir Diversite 88 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

  Open about two hours before first exploration. Subtle and light, but bright fruit showing itself on the nose. Pretty red fruits on the palate. Finishes with some nice acidity that lingers on the palate for a while.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2007 Aubichon Pinot Noir Reserve 89 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

  Popped and poured. Nice complete nose showing lots of bright delicious red fruits. The delicious fruit continues onto the palate, also showing some soil tones with a soft, enveloping feel. This is a very complete wine and tasting quite good today. It obviously doesn't show the personality of the other single plot wines of Le Cadeau, and those will likely develop more interesting flavors in the years to come, but today, this is a very pleasing drink. "I could put a straw in it."

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2005 Le Cadeau Pinot Noir Côte Est 92 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

  Popped and poured and drank over ~1 hour. Very deep, penetrating color. Black at its core. Big, rich nose showing delicious aromas of strawberry & mud pie, shrimp shell, and a baguette. In fact, the more I smell this, the more it smells like a delicious meal, perhaps shrimp risotto with saffron in a cream sauce. More weight on the palate than any of the 2007s, showing delicious flavors of summer flowers, grass, a bit of funk, and very rich soil. Certainly a hit of funk initially on the finish, but this is pealed away to show big tannins enveloping the palate along with cracked pepper. These too begin to fade away just as nice pretty red fruits rise to the forefront. Very nice, seamless transitions on the finish that evolve over 30 seconds after swallowing. Tom mentioned that weather wise, 2005 was a similar year to '07, and he expects his '07s to put on this kind of weight. Certainly something too is to be said of Josh Bergstrom making this wine, as this does taste like his style.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

This was most definitely one of the most enjoyable trips I've made out to wine country. It never ceases to amaze me the good people associated with wine production in Oregon. The two men I met today definitely are producing the style of Pinot Noir that is to my liking; They're trying to make the best Pinot Noirs they can in Oregon, and not attempting to play the extraction game that so many Oregon vineyards have fallen into in recent years. I thank them for a very pleasing day.