I opened the Cadence Taptiel 2007 Red Mountain (%56 Cab./%35 Franc/%11 Merlot) tonight with serloin and was blown away by the quality. I did not bring this wine to MoCool so it was new to me. It was given 6 hrs. of decant time but probably did not need all of it. Spicer that the 2007 Ciel du Cheval from Cadence at MoCool, it was maybe a touch less full of fruit but that is splitting hairs. It was soo smooth and ready to go that I just wish it was $20 instead of much more.
Thank you Joel for proposing NorthWest Wines as the theme this year as I really got into it and bought heavily in Wash. reds to educate myself with great success. The Wash. reds that I remember were all very fine. I brought the 2007 Sorella from Andrew Will, the Cadence 2007 Ciel du Cheval and the 2006 Soos Creek Artist. I was disappointed with the Sorella, my most expensive contribution, as I thought it was far from ready to drink (even with 5 hrs. decant time), but the others were very ready to go and showed the possibilities of Wash. Bordeaux blends for a Cal. Cab. freak like me. My other favorites were the DeLILLE Chaleur Estate 2007 (thank you O.W.), the Spring Valley Uriah vintage I forgot ( go figure) the Columbia Crest H3 I have had before but very nice, and of course the 4 bottle vertical of Quilceda Creek (thank you Joel) that I got to taste 2 of (fabulous). There were 3 other bottles of Andrew Will, one, I think, back to 1994 that I also missed. Oh well, I need to pay more attention. I did try a few Oregon P.N. but my favorite was tasted at the Noland bros. cabin, the Rascal, for $10 was all I expect out of a non-Burgundian Pinot Noir. Linda Lindsey you are my hero or would athat be heroess. In any event I had a great time even withstanding the late Sat. weather event, and look forward to next year. Let us start thinking about a theme! I need a new region to explore wine-wise.
