NEWBIE INTRO - Cadence Winery, Red Mountain

Hello Berserkers!

Greg from Cadence here- we’ve been fortunate to have many fans on Wine Berserkers over the years, but have never participated in BerserkerDay… until now. I wanted to give everyone a little backstory about the winery itself, and encourage you to reach out to me with any questions whatsoever. We’re excited to participate in our first BerserkerDay and hope you enjoy the wines!

Cadence makes wine that speaks of place; of elegance and power, perfume and structure in combinations only possible from three world class vineyards on Red Mountain: Ciel du Cheval, Tapteil, and our own estate Cara Mia Vineyard. We have chosen to represent these sites through the classic Bordeaux varietals given their perfect expression in Red Mountain terroir. We intend these wines to develop greater personality with age as do all great wines in the world.

Our production facility is located in the suburban Seattle neighborhood of South Park, about 7 miles south of downtown. Cadence produces individual blends from Tapteil Vineyard, Ciel du Cheval Vineyard and in November 2008 introduced the first blends from its estate vineyard, Cara Mia, also on Red Mountain. The owners of Cadence, Benjamin Smith and Gaye McNutt, purchased the land for Cara Mia Vineyard in 1997. Their 7 year wait for water rights served them well as they were able to extensively research state-of-the-art vineyard techniques to apply to the vineyard. Data from 31 soil pits revealed the most diverse soils yet found on Red Mountain and resulted in planting 10 different irrigation blocks, each fine-tuned to its clonal variety and water requirements. Cara Mia uses the latest clonal selections, row orientation, trellising techniques, irrigation water management, and completely organic weed and sustainable pest control.

Ben is a product of Ohio, having grown up in Columbus and graduated from Ohio State University with a BSME. Boeing moved him to Seattle in early 1986. Ben spent the next 14 years involved in airplane design, focusing for several years on the flight control systems for Boeing 737 and 757 airliners. Boeing turned out to be ideal training for winemaking. Not only did Ben acquire precision as an engineer, he also acquired access to the best wine resources in Washington. As procurement manager for the Boeing Employees Wine club, Ben managed vineyard relationships and purchasing of more than 20 tons of fruit for the collective club members from the greatest vineyards in the state. Just as importantly, the club competitions exposed Ben’s wines to local distributors, wine purveyors and restaurant sommeliers who year after year judged Ben’s wines as Best of Show in the competitions among the club members.

In addition to her palate, Gaye brings her legal and business expertise to the winery. Gaye grew up in Texas and Maryland, obtaining an undergraduate business degree from Rice University and J.D. from The University of Texas.

In 1998, Ben and Gaye founded Cadence, having established impeccable fruit sources, an enthusiastic sales channel and ideally situated vineyard property on Red Mountain. Ben and Gaye have consistently garnered exceptional critical praise for their wines. Stephen Tanzer named Ben
one of the Superstars of the State, Jancis Robinson said Cadence is a winery to watch, and Wine & Spirits magazine has twice named Cadence Artisan Winery of the Year. Paul Gregutt chose Cadence as one of the top ten wineries in the Pacific Northwest in Tom Stevenson’s Wine Report 2008. Hugh Johnson’s The World of Fine Wine magazine (Issue 25, 2009) includes a six page feature article on Cadence written by Bruce Schoenfeld.

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Love your wines.

These wines really sing with aging

The best wine I had at the 2019 Taste Washington main event was a 2002 Tapteil (I think) that Ben had stashed away for folks he knew. Great wine and classy people.

What are the ABVs? They are nowhere to be found on the Cadence website.

These are among the best Bordeaux inspired wines in Washington. And they age fantastically. I had a 1998 with Ben about 2 years ago that was just singing. Disclaimer-I know and like Ben and Gaye. They are great people and Cadence is top tier of WA wines.

I clicked through a few bottles I have on CT and the three were all listed at 14.4%. They were 2010 and 2014 vintages.

Ran across Cadence at the Cabernet Classic here in Washington last year for the first time, and amongst the group we went with we all agreed they were the find of the night. We have been waiting for the pandemic restrictions to lift as they are local and on the top of our list to visit/taste at.

Hey Patrick, thanks for the question- ABVs are always right around 14.4%. Call it 14.1 - 14.6, depending on year. Ripeness, of course, is never a challenge on Red Mountain but we tend to be among the very first to pick and are rather judicious with the barrel regimen, topping out at 50% new on Bel Canto and Camerata, 40% new for Tapteil and Ciel du Cheval, and 45% new on Coda. The wines tend to be seen as representing a much more elegant, rather than strictly powerful, side of Red Mountain.

Nice! That was a fun event, and really the last one we did before the pandemic fully set in. If memory serves, in addition to current vintage wines we also poured the 2007 Camerata- as others have noted, the wines are known to age quite well, and we always like to pour something a bit older to demonstrate that fact.

Thanks for the kind words, and let me know if you need help finding a store or shop in your area that carries the wines. We don’t have a proper tasting room, but we’d love to host you at the winery when things get back to normal!

Thank you. Washington reds can get a little hot for my taste. These sound more restrained, for lack of a better word. Perhaps consider adding ABV on the website descriptions.

Your wines are phenomenal and take up the largest portion of my cellar. Really well-balanced, thoughtful, and satisfying wines.

Yes, we had VIP passes to access where this was being poured upstairs. There were some Washington heavy hitters up there and we all agreed this showed the best of all that were up there.

Glad to see you guys participating this year and looking forward to being able to visit when restrictions are lifted

Just a quick note to echo the comments above regarding Cadence. Ben and Gaye have quietly been making some of the most restrained (by WA standards) and age-worthy Bdx blends up here in the PacNW (from their facility in the once overlooked, now up-and-coming, South Park neighborhood).

I just checked my Cellartracker info, and Lopez de Heredia is the #1 producer in my cellar (duh!). However, the next largest quantity in my cellar is from Cadence. I haven’t followed them all the way from the beginning (no “Tom Hill” claims here), but I’ve been pretty close. Part of the reason their allocation is growing in my cellar is my increasing realization as time goes by as to how well their wines age. I keep realizing they’ll improve for a much longer time period than I had earlier thought, so no rush to open. As someone once mentioned to me, the hardest part with these wines is maintaining the self-discipline to keep my hands off them for long enough (though I’ve learned such patience will be rewarded). Looking at my bottles consumed, going back to the 2001 vintage, I have yet to open one yet that I thought was “over the top of the hill”.

Not sure what they will offer for BD; however, if they include Coda (their “declassified” barrel blend), I’d advise not overlooking that one. While it’s somewhat advertised as being more accessible when young (and it is…), I also think it’s a value star that will age well much longer than it’s given credit for (pretty close to the aging curve of the SVD blends). While I drink some Coda young, every year I buy a few extra bottles, and stash them away in the back of the cellar and try to forget about them for at least 10 years. So far, I’ve had a number of positive surprises when opening those Codas many years down the line (especially at the Code price point).

Plus, if they sell a lot of wine via BD, Ben may finally be able to “n + 1” and get one of those sleek, sexy Pinarellos that I suspect he’s been pining for all these years…

Note to self: I’m buying this… (just marking territory, so I can be reminded later this week…)

Appreciate the kind words, and I for one am thrilled to be mentioned in the same paragraph as LdH, an all-time favorite producer of mine (and perhaps the most amazing winery tour/tasting I’ve ever done). The wines of Cadence are very much made with ageability in mind- as Ben & Gaye have said, “We intend these wines to develop greater personality with age as do all great wines in the world.” I enjoyed a 2000 Ciel du Cheval over the holidays that showed no signs whatsoever of slowing down. Of course, as the sales guy, I must remind everyone that they are still delicious when young!

Regarding Coda, the greater accessibility is due to a bit less time in barrel and being released a year ahead of the single-vineyard wines (current vintage is '18 as opposed to '17 on the others), but it is treated exactly the same as its higher priced siblings, and in fact Coda is 50% estate fruit with the other half being a roughly even split between Ciel du Cheval and Tapteil. It’s always a great value that punches well above its weight class, but perhaps an even better value next Wednesday (wink wink).
And yes, I think Ben is always looking to add more bikes to the stable…

We appreciate you saying that!