I’ve loved Cadence wines for years, and every time I open one I wonder why I don’t buy more - reasonably priced, high quality, and amazingly ageable wines. This was purchased on release and stored properly for the past nearly 20 years.
Visually - no sign of aging. Try as hard as I like, I can find zero bricking or any visual indication as to age (other than the nearly saturated cork). On the nose this wine is immediately open for business, no funk to blow off, nothing weird, just a beautiful clean nose black plums, cedar, white flowers, brush, and a slight but surprising hint of menthol? On the palate, fully resolved tannins, smooth and polished, the fruit is definitely starting to take on a secondary role, with cigar box and earth notes coming to the fore. The finish is pleasant and sweet, but surprisingly short, given the other qualities.
Yep. Still can’t understand why Ben & Gaye’s wines don’t get more love than they do. I think people vastly underestimate the aging curve on these wines. And that includes his Coda “declassified barrels” wines. (which are quite possibly the best value of all their wines). The only ones I’ve had so far that I thought were close to peaking were a couple bottles of 2000 Spring Valley Vineyard (and I bought those from a private seller whose storage may have been questionable). Great wines, fashioned with great restraint for WA producer, made by some really nice, down-to-earth winemakers. What’s not to like?
Don’t miss the library wine offer going all the way back to 1999, slated for 12/12/20. 3 bottles of your favorite bottling/vineyard. I think the vintages are randomly selected, but I suppose you could lobby for the years you really want.
2000 was a hot year in WA, too many people equate WA to Napa vintages, so the fact that it’s a touch short isn’t surprising, and if you have ever been up on Red Mountain during the day, when hot…it is HOT.
Opened a 2011 Tapteil tonight for a zoom tasting (that actually included Ben and Gaye). Beautiful, balanced, spherical wine with a cool feeling palate to match the cool vintage. sweet yet restrained, tannins have integrated nicely. I actually drank part of it outside (I was testing an outdoor Covid compatible space) and the fruit from the glass filled the outdoor space as well. Just a pleasure. The cool vintages in Washington are the sweet-spot, as long as you have someone who knows what they are doing producing the wine.
