Le Cadeau Merci Pinot measures up

Peter Creasey

Peter Creasey

Peter Creasey
Le Cadeau Merci Reserve Willamette Valley Merci Reserve Pinot Noir '13 -- Medium red, generous aromas, red berries, earth, good mouth feel, nice mellow style that's full, pleasing sweet nuance, maybe a bit of barnyard with some complexity, really a pleasure to enjoy. [E]

Paired well with air-fried crumb-crusted red snapper and Domingo Rojo beans with feta cheese.

. . . . . Pete
 
Interesting followup. I mentioned our enjoyment of the Le Cadeau '13 to Tom Mortimer and he replied...

Coincidentally, a side note on that particular wine: Last Summer a friend (serious wine collector from NYC) visited us. We set-up a blind tasting of 8-Pinots on the front lawn at the vineyard. It was an eclectic assortment of quality Oregon and FR Burgundy, from a range of vintages. When the wines were finally revealed, the 2013 Merci was the winner, blindly selected by participants. I was pleasantly surprised because 2013 was a challenging vintage-- we had over 10" of rain in September that year. Nonetheless, the wine is doing well. Very glad you enjoyed it.
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. . . . . Pete
 
I assume Mr. Mortimer is connected with the Le Cadeau winery?
If so, I take such endorsement with a grain of salt.

On a side note, I do not like blind tastings.
I have heard most of the arguments in their favor but I’m unconvinced.
I want to see the label; producer, vintage, vineyard, etc. when I taste, I like to see if the wine reflects it’s terroir and vintage and variety. As far as quality and personal preference go, I could not care less if the Pinot in my glass is DRC Richbourg, Jadot, AOC Burgundy, Marcassin, Sonoma Coast or Cowan Cellars, Anderson Valley - I like what I like and I don’t judge wine by it’s hype or lack thereof.
Call me crazy (you wouldn’t be the first) but blind tastings make me feel silly and, IMO, wind up being an exercise in trying to rank good vs. bad, and hence, boring.
Best, jim
 
Jim, yes, Tom Mortimer is the gentleman who owns Le Cadeau. And he is a wonderful person (as is his wife) whom I'm confident you would like.

Tom's comments, if taken out of context, could sound like an endorsement. However, in this case, I'm confident he was relaying his surprise that his wine was the favorite among quality wines as chosen by knowledgeable wine folks. Tom even gave reasons why he would not have been surprised if the wine had not showed less favorably.

I understand your dislike of blind tastings; however, it is a proven fact that seeing the label strongly biases most any judge or panel of judges. Blind is the only way to get close to an unbiased assessment of wine.


. . . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:
Blind is the only way to get close to an unbiased assessment of wine.
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If I may ask, what's in an unbiased assessment?

It can't say much about the soils that hosted the vines or the fruit of those vines. It can say only a little about the human intervention necessary to make wine. It certainly can't discuss QPR, or make comparisons to other makers in the same area.

So, other than sense data, and an unshareable guessing-game with my personal sense memory, what exactly does an 'unbiased assessment' offer?
 
Blind tasting does protect against the expectations knowing a label produce. That's about all it does, really. That it harms a perceiver's ability to recognize even basic things about the object being assessed was demonstrated a hundred years ago in literary criticism by I. A. Richards. I suppose, for the very narrow purposes of reviewing and assigning grades, it may be useful. but reviewing and evaluating is not, for many of us, a very interesting activity in itself. The reason I am uninterested in points is that I am really mostly interested in hearing whether a wine is in some way interesting and attention getting or not. Evaluative language in reviews can sometimes add to communicating that to me. Points do not. Blind tasting notes (where I don't know the wine being described) also do not.

I should say that pre-pandamic I frequently participated in blind tastings. It was an enjoyable game, even though I was never that good at it.
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

I understand your dislike of blind tastings; however, it is a proven fact that seeing the label strongly biases most any judge or panel of judges. Blind is the only way to get close to an unbiased assessment of wine.


. . . . . . Pete
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Pete,
I would agree with this statement as long as it applies to you and you alone. You are evaluating your individual likes and dislikes and you’re using your own inner criteria to make a personal judgment.
Beyond that, I think Jeff’s points are well taken.
And the term “panel of judges” is anathema to my views on wine quality/enjoyment.
Best, jim
 
I’m on the non-blind side. Almost everything interesting about wine requires the context of knowing what it is. Blind tastings are just fun as a game. That’s it. And like Jim, I don’t care what’s on the label or status in figuring out if I like or don’t like a wine, why, and how it compares to other wines, if such a comparison is called for or desirable.
 
It doesn't have to be either-or. For example, my Burgundy group generally tastes wines blind initially and discusses early impressions. Then we reveal the wines and drink them. This allows both an unbiased view of the wine (and can be very insightful -- anyone who thinks they're immune to label bias is probably kidding themselves) and allows the wine to be appreciated in its context, which is also important.
 
I only drink wines blind. And not just blind tastings from time to time, but even at home. When it's time to pull a wine for dinner, I always ask Chelsea to pick the wine and pour it without me knowing what it is. And she never reveals the wine to me, even after we have finished the bottle. This is the only way I can really appreciate wine. And this approach has now extended to my wine buying as well. I just ask my local retailer to put together a case of wines that have a common bottle shape, so I don't accidentally guess the region, and to cover all the bottles with foil before I pick them up. I always request a receipt that doesn't say what the wines are - it just has a dollar amount in the total. By the way, this makes maintaining your cellar inventory incredibly simple.
 
originally posted by Michael Lewis:
You guys have it wrong...I only drink wines blind. And not just blind tastings from time to time, but even at home. When it's time to pull a wine for dinner, I always ask Chelsea to pick the wine and pour it without me knowing what it is. And she never reveals the wine to me, even after we have finished the bottle. This is the only way I can really appreciate wine. And this approach has now extended to my wine buying as well. I just ask my local retailer to put together a case of wines that have a common bottle shape, so I don't accidentally guess the region, and to cover all the bottles with foil before I pick them up. I always request a receipt that doesn't say what the wines are - it just has a dollar amount in the total. By the way, this makes maintaining your cellar inventory incredibly simple.
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This explains why I’ve always loved your tasting notes.
Best, jim
 
I may be wrong, but I think I saw a report about a tasting that made a big deal about folks here tasting wines blind!?!

. . . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

I may be wrong, but I think I saw a report about a tasting that made a big deal about folks here tasting wines blind!?!

. . . . . . Pete
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And at least one of those people has said that he enjoys it as a game but doesn't take it seriously. One would think that would be evident from the reports of the tastings.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
And at least one of those people has said that he enjoys it as a game but doesn't take it seriously. One would think that would be evident from the reports of the tastings.
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Pete may be unfamiliar with irony.
 
originally posted by Michael Lewis:
You guys have it wrong...I only drink wines blind. And not just blind tastings from time to time, but even at home. When it's time to pull a wine for dinner, I always ask Chelsea to pick the wine and pour it without me knowing what it is. And she never reveals the wine to me, even after we have finished the bottle. This is the only way I can really appreciate wine. And this approach has now extended to my wine buying as well. I just ask my local retailer to put together a case of wines that have a common bottle shape, so I don't accidentally guess the region, and to cover all the bottles with foil before I pick them up. I always request a receipt that doesn't say what the wines are - it just has a dollar amount in the total. By the way, this makes maintaining your cellar inventory incredibly simple.
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I've taken this a step further, having invested in several properties in Pessac-Leognan that are now producing bottles in the same shape as Haut-Brion.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
And at least one of those people has said that he enjoys it as a game but doesn't take it seriously. One would think that would be evident from the reports of the tastings.
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Pete may be unfamiliar with irony.
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. . . . .among other things.
 
originally posted by robert ames:
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
And at least one of those people has said that he enjoys it as a game but doesn't take it seriously. One would think that would be evident from the reports of the tastings.
Click to expand...
Pete may be unfamiliar with irony.
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. . . . .among other things.
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as we all are.
 
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
originally posted by robert ames:
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
And at least one of those people has said that he enjoys it as a game but doesn't take it seriously. One would think that would be evident from the reports of the tastings.
Click to expand...
Pete may be unfamiliar with irony.
Click to expand...

. . . . .among other things.
Click to expand...

as we all are.
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remember, allness statements are always untrue.
 
originally posted by Michael Lewis:
I always request a receipt that doesn't say what the wines are - it just has a dollar amount in the total.
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How does this even work? Everything these days is tied to upc's and barcodes or some other way that item gets distinguished from all others in their inventory, otherwise, how does the store itself keep tabs on what they have. Is this even legal?
 
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