An associate and I popped these two great wines last night at Jak's Grill in quaint downtown Issaquah, WA. Both bottles were popped and poured without decanting and served in Spiegelau Vino Grande Bordeaux stems. I had a fantastic Top Sirloin with some mashed. Yum!

2002 Cadence Ciel du Cheval Vineyard Red ($34.99)
It was a dimly lit room, so the color was just dark. The nose was explosive and beautiful: like cinnamon-laced blueberry coffee. Very rich and extracted with loads of black cherry and berries and a nice wall of chewy tannins. There really wasn't all that much oak detectable. This is a real mouthful, and a tasty treat. 92 pts

2002 Januik Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley ($28)
Much more of a lurking, cassis-laden nose with an obvious (too much so, IMO) influence of new oak: vanilla bomb. This wine was dense, but had a great underlying structure. Complexity wasn't there yet, but I think this, more than the Cadence, could develop (and improve) with time. 91 pts

All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening with great food and equally great wine. Now, if I could only kick the headache...

Sounds like you had a great time.
But now you've got me jonesing for Jak's. Ever had the "secret" side dish?

I might be walking right into this one, but I've never even heard of the "secret" side dish. Praytell...

you mean the one that only the locals "in the know" know? hmmmm....sounds like something out of this world to me

mattach, you are right on the money. Take me to your leader.

BTW, I saw both of these wines at Pike and Western today. Almost plunked down the change, but I was afraid I might like them too much, and would have to put them on my "must purchase" list. It's too big already.

i have a couple 03 ciels and bel cantos...dying to find out how they compare with the 02s but am trying to hold off

Hmmm...a little too esoteric for me, I guess.

mneeley490 - you probably made a wise decision because you'd be back for more after trying a bottle. I really like Cadence wines' sex appeal - very lush, rich and sexy. I forgot to mention the lovely floral nuances that began to unfold as the wine aired in our glasses. Very sumptuous.

BRR, if you really want to know, email me @ mneeley490@comcast.net, and I'll clue you in.

Have 4 '03 Cadence Tapteils from bottling party in May (no labels). Hoping to pick up some Ciels and Bel Cantos in October either from Ben or down the street at Esquin.

tylerhi- How are the 03 Tapteils? I liked the 02's a fair bit but they were pretty scarce due to the corking mishaps so I only got 3.

The 03 Tapteil had nice big fruit, soft tannins kind of a drink now wine. We had it with our pizza lunch direct from the tank. Not sure how the bottled stuff is but planning on holding it a year before opening a bottle. Unfortunately the labels hadn't come in yet so it was personally labeled by Ben (gold pen).