• 2000 Baer Winery Ursa [Washington, USA] 89 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA wine dinner at Kaspars: 200 cases made, fruit sourced from the Alder Ridge Vineyard. Close to equal parts Merlot, Cab Sauv, and Cab Franc. You can really smell the Cab Franc in this. Spicy wine with good upfront fruit. Very nice, but seems to finish a bit hot and a little short.
  
• 2001 Baer Winery Ursa [Washington, USA] 90 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA wine dinner at Kaspars: Different fruit sources and composition than the 2000, but didn't get them written down. Very tight, needs a year or two to settle down. Bigger and richer than the 2000, again seems a touch hot on the finish to me, but this will be nice in a year two.
  
• 2002 Baer Winery Ursa [Washington, USA] 91 pts. (4/17/2004)
  WA wine dinner at Kaspars: This was a cask sample. Big heady, oaky nose. Very very dark in color. This is a big wine with great potential, but definitely needs it's time in barrel and in bottle to integrate. Should be the best baer to date.
  
• 1998 Cadence Tapteil [Red Mountain, Washington, USA] 88 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA wine dinner at Kaspar's. Tart cherry on the nose, with a bit of a fermented character to it. Lots of acid, but not in an off-putting way. This is a pleasant wine, but no where near the structure or extract of the later vintages.
  
• 2000 Cadence Tapteil [Red Mountain, Washington, USA] 92 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA wine dinner at Kaspars. Lovely mocha, licorice notes. This is a well fruited and well balanced wine. Delicious. Probably the best wine of the evening.
  
• 2001 Cadence Tapteil [Red Mountain, Washington, USA] 89 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA wine dinner at Kaspar's. Licorice, a little bit of jammy fruit. This is pretty hard and tannic. Pretty backward, but will hopefully come around with some time.
  
• 1987 Woodward Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon [Columbia Valley, Washington, USA] (4/16/2004)
  WA wine dinner at Kaspars: I had a hard time putting my finger on this one as it seemed like a constantly moving target. Initially had a rotten cabbage smell, that actually made me drag out the "ewww". Moved into more of a classic barnyard but was pretty vegetal overall and seemed a fair distance down the downward slope to me. A very intriguing wine, but not real pleasant nonetheless.
  
• 1994 Woodward Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon Artist Series #3 [Columbia Valley, Washington, USA] 89 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA wine dinner at Kaspars: I found this quite nice. Nice aged nose, balanced and clean, although it faded fairly fast. Just starting to dry out a bit.
  
• 1995 Woodward Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon Artist Series #4 [Columbia Valley, Washington, USA] 86 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA wine dinner at Kaspars: Served in a flight along with it's older sibling, the 1994. Iodine and barnyard on the nose. Very very tannic. Don't know if this will ever resolve.
  
• 2000 Northstar Merlot [Columbia Valley, Washington, USA] 85 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA wine dinner at Kaspars: Big nose of oak and Liqueur. Pretty short and hollow on the palate. Did get better over the course of the flight as it opened up. Raspberry and chocolate notes. Not nearly the match of the 99 northstar.
  
• 2000 Stella Maris Red Wine [Columbia Valley, Washington, USA] 89 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA wine dinner at Kaspars: This red blend is the second wine of northstar. Tonight it showed much better than it's big brother. Vanilla and toast, with a touch of mocha, this showed decent balance and a decent length finish. Pleasant wine, albeit perhaps overachieving compared to the poor showing of the northstar.
  
• 1995 DeLille Cellars D2 [Washington, USA] 85 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA wine dinner at Kaspars: Browing on the edges, spice and a bit of a floral type note on the nose (violet?). Seems a bit tart and short, a bit dried out.
  
• 1998 DeLille Cellars Chaleur Estate [Red Mountain, Washington, USA] 88 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA Wine dinner at Kaspars: Seemed pretty closed. Rose petals and cedar on the nose, not giving up very much other than a little bit of vanilla and currant flavors.
  
• 1990 Leonetti Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Seven Hills Reserve [Walla Walla Valley, Washington, USA] 88 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA Wine dinner at Kaspars: Menthol and dry sherry on the nose. Only flavor I have jotted down is toffee. Finish was a bit short. The oak seemed surprising integrated to me.
  
• 1992 Leonetti Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon [Columbia Valley, Washington, USA] 80 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA wine dinner at Kaspars: Herbal notes with dill. A high toned smell that wasn't quite VA. Astringent palate with mostly oak notes.
  
• 2000 Leonetti Cellar Merlot [Columbia Valley, Washington, USA] 88 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA Wine dinner at Kaspars: Big butter nose. Cherry, strawberry, vanilla, Lots of oak. Good wine, but not particularly suited for me.
  
• 1992 Columbia Winery Cabernet Sauvignon David Lake Signature Series Red Willow Vineyard [Yakima Valley, Washington, USA] 84 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA wine dinner at Kaspars: Quite the old wine in color, with orange around the rim. Lots of acid, although to me not quite "volatile". This seemed quite a bit past prime to me, dried out with an herbal finish.
  
• 1996 Andrew Will Sorella [Washington, USA] 84 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA wine dinner at Kaspars: Nose was very very sweet smelling with sundried tomato. Short and hollow, with a bit of an apple? note- very unusual.
  
• 1998 Andrew Will Merlot Klipsun Vineyard [Red Mountain, Washington, USA] 90 pts. (4/16/2004)
  WA Wine dinner at Kaspars: This was the best of the Andrew Will wines tonight. Pure raspberry and chocolate pleasure. Quintessential merlot, IMO. Very nice.
  
• 1998 Andrew Will Cabernet Sauvignon Seven Hills Vineyard [Walla Walla Valley, Washington, USA] (4/16/2004)
  At WA wine dinner at Kaspar's. This wine was cooked, IMO. Stewed fruit dominate.

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For starter's it is much more "Roy Hersh's" Seattle Tasting Group than mine. I am merely the humble scribe...

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The 2000 Cadence is far from ready but surprisingly approachable already. I will still wait a few years if you can. These wines are really built to age if you ask me.

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I agree. if you HAD to, the 2000 can be opened now. It is not done evolving though. I would wait 2-3 years at least before opening any of the 2001's. Unless you really love hard, tight wines.

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Nice to hear about the Baer, I really enjoyed the 2000. 2001 just came in, looking forward to trying it.

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He keeps having to move vineyard sources, but should be locked in to a good source starting with the 03. He is also trying to phase out the Cab Sauv to just a Cab Franc/Merlot blend.

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