Seattle Tasting Group Washington Wine Offline at Kaspar's

Seattle, WA, USA
Tasted Friday, April 16, 2004 by Eric with 2,548 views

Introduction

Last night members of the Seattle Tasting Group (STG), other Seattle locals including winemaker Lance Baer, and some eager out of town guests (Nicos Neocleous and Spencer Thrall) assembled at Kaspar's Restaurant in Seattle for a delicious meal and a fun offline featuring some of the best Washington wines from traditional powerhouses (Woodward Canyon, Leonetti Cellars, Andrew Will) along with terrific wines from some awesome up and coming winemakers (Cadence, Baer). In a somewhat unusual turn, we didn't have any Quilceda wines, as we feel like we have done those many, many times over and wanted to touch on some other wines.

I'm not going to try and describe the meal, but Roy did a wonderful job of arranging a multi-course masterpiece featuring some particularly delicious seafood (the sauteed scallop atop bacon and horseradish infused mashed potatoes was a particlar favorite for me). Thank you Roy for putting together a delightful lineup and a fun evening, albeit one that was quite cozy around the 20 person table. :)

Flight 1 (1 Note)

With a very cool tower of appetizers we started off with some bubbly.

Flight 2 (2 Notes)

The real tasting started off with a pair of DeLille wines (the planned 1995 Chaleur Estate was a no-show).

  • 1995 DeLille Cellars D2 87 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

    This shows very light color with some bricking. Balanced and elegant with a hint of mushroom, this has a lot less power than modern D2's. I was fairly surprised at how advanced this wine was.

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  • 1998 DeLille Cellars Chaleur Estate 90 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain

    Very deep color. On the nose this shows a spicy note with cedar and asian spice. On the palate this shows very nice structure but is still black and hard, fairly closed. This is not very forgiving right now and could use a lot more decanting. I saved a glass for an extra half-hour, and this really opened up rather nicely. This is a wine that still needs a ton of decanting to show well.

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Flight 3 (3 Notes)

This next flight was a bit of a hodgepodge.

  • 1992 Columbia Winery Cabernet Sauvignon David Lake Signature Series Red Willow Vineyard 88 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Yakima Valley

    See through like a lightweight Pinot. Minty and high pitched on the nose with some mineral. On the palate this shows iron and cranberry, sweet and tart, with searing, almost burning acidity that hurts the roof of your mouth. Despite that, I found it to be an interesting wine.

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  • 2000 Northstar Merlot Columbia Valley 80 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

    I was quite critical of this wine at the tasting. On the nose I smelled a huge pile of wood with grape jelly and some violet. On the palate this shows chocolate and vanilla but is a bit spineless and lacking in acidity. It does show reasonable structure, but on the whole I found this to be far too wooded and out of balance as a consequence.

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  • 2000 Northstar Red Wine Stella Maris 84 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

    The nose is extremely reticent with a bare hint of cassis and roasted plum. The palate is chocolately and shows more cassis. The wine is nicely balanced overall, not huge but quite approachable albeit somewhat simple.

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Flight 4 (3 Notes)

This next flight was my favorite with a beautful series of the Tapteil Vineyard wines from Cadence. I haven't had a chance to taste an older (1998) Cadence, and it was really nice to see how the 2000 had settled down.

  • 1998 Cadence Tapteil Vineyard 88 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain

    The nose shows a hint of cedar and some spice. The palate is initially soft yet with lively acidity and still quite tannic. The doesn't show the depth of the 2000 and 2001 Cadence Tapteil, but it is an elegant wine.

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  • 2000 Cadence Tapteil Vineyard 93 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain

    This was my wine of the night. The nose shows licorice and a faint medicinal element. The palate is remarkable: structured, dynamic, very juicy and vibrant. The fruit here is very pure with cassis yet showing stunning layering and complexity. Long and delicious on the finish.

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  • 2001 Cadence Tapteil Vineyard 91 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain

    This is much more grapey and floral than the 2000. The structure here is unreal. Lots of licorice and cassis, very pure. This is fairly tightly wound and a bit painful right now, but there is a lot of upside. 91++

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Flight 5 (3 Notes)

We followed up with a great flight from Baer Winery, and Lance Baer had a chance to share his philosophy and his thoughts on some of his first creations (all made while he was still the assistant winemaker at DeLille). I was amazed to hear that all three of these were pure free-run, as the press wine was sold off for these. Very pure and focused, these were delightful wines.

  • 2000 Baer Winery Ursa 89 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

    200 cases produced, all from Alder Ridge. Wow, this is driving and pure with very impressive acidity and structure, showing a tart cranberry character. This is very linear yet pure, clean and powerful.

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  • 2001 Baer Winery Ursa 90 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

    397 cases produced. Compared to the 2000 this is a bit more spicy and shows a bit more wood with a hint of maple syrup on the palate. This is very nicely balanced with no rough edges.

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  • 2002 Baer Winery Ursa 92 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

    This was a cask sample which Lance Baer brought. This seems to show a higher percentage of Cabernet Franc with a bit of tea leaf or green tobacco on the nose. On the palate this is quite sweet and expressive again showing some brown sugar, very pure and balanced. Like the prior two Baer wines, I found this to be very compact and laser focused.

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Flight 6 (3 Notes)

Next we moved to Washington State's cult, Leonetti Cellars. These are lavishly wooded wines. Personally, I chased these when I first started collecting, but my palate has really shifted away from these. That said, some of the wines were admirable and worked quite well.

  • 1992 Leonetti Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley 84 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

    Dill and bell pepper pervade the nose. The palate is herbal and nicely smooth and resolved yet also somewhat dilute. This tasted a bit over the hill.

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  • 1998 Leonetti Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Walla Walla Valley 90 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley

    I brought this wine. This was prototypical Leonetti, lavishly oaked, spicy, jammy with a lush and velvety blanket of fruit that envelops your palate. These wines are not really to my taste, but this was certainly an interesting example.

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  • 2000 Leonetti Cellar Reserve Walla Walla Valley 88 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley

    I brought this bottle. Cheddary, spicy and showing absolutely over the top wood treatment that unfortunately backed up by much less lavish fruit than the 1998 CS Reserve. It simply doesn't hold its wood as well, and while it will show better once it settles down I don't think it holds the same intrigue.

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Flight 7 (3 Notes)

Some more Leonetti and an older Woodward Canyon. In the midst of dealing with one no-show Woodward, we missed an opportunity to make the flights somewhat more congruous. Oh well.

Flight 8 (3 Notes)

Next we moved onto the last of the Woodwards and the beginning of four wines from Andrew Will.

  • 1994 Woodward Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon Artist Series 88 Points

    USA, Washington

    This shows some bell pepper and is spicy and herbal with a lot of wood still showing. The palate is fairly sweet with cassis and cranberry, also beautifully mature. There is nothing mindblowing here, just a solid and nicely aged Cabernet.

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  • 1995 Woodward Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon Artist Series 84 Points

    USA, Washington

    This wine is very tannic and harsh with lots of black olive on the nose and some barnyard and earthy character on the palate. Not as interesting as the other Woodward Cabs at the tasting.

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  • 1996 Andrew Will Sorella Flawed

    USA, Washington

    What happened here? This was perhaps my biggest disappointment of the tasting. Stewed tomato, black cherry and stewed, overripe fruit is all I could get on the nose and palate. I'm hoping this was a cooked bottle.

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Flight 9 (3 Notes)

If there was one disappointment to the evening, it was the inconsistency of the Andrew Will wines. Perhaps we were just unlucky, but there were at least two bottles that appeared to be damaged and one showing poorly. Fortunately the Klipsun Merlot showed the true colors of these wines.

  • 1998 Andrew Will Merlot Klipsun Vineyard 90 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain

    Lots of black fruit on the nose. On the palate this is very brooding with juicy blackberry and loads of structure. I really enjoy this wine.

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  • 1998 Andrew Will Cabernet Sauvignon Seven Hills Vineyard 80 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley

    Somewhat harsh and astringent with runaway acidity. Another bad bottle?

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  • 1999 Andrew Will Sorella 86 Points

    USA, Washington

    Another disappointing Andrew Will, bummer! This shows very heavy volatility on the nose with some violet and lots of nasal lift. The palate is very lush, juicy and pretty with nicely balanced acidity. However, that VA really detracts from the wine. A very disappointing showing for a highly rated (WA94) wine.

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Flight 10 (7 Notes)

Finally we moved onto a series of overachieving dessert wines. I was tired and lazy, so I didn't score these, but most of them were very enjoyable, bordering on excellent.

Closing

Thank you Roy for putting together a wonderful evening (the beginning of three in a weekend of debauchery that is still taking shape. More tomorrow...)

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