• By Stephen Tanzer
  Focus on Washington: The New Normal (Nov 2018), 11/1/2018, (See more on Vinous...)

  (Cadence Winery Red Wine Bel Canto Washington Red) Login and sign up and see review text.

JebDunnuck.com

• By Jeb Dunnuck
  Latest Releases from Washington State, 4/5/2018, (See more on JebDunnuck.com...)

  (Cadence Bel Canto) Login and sign up and see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Cadence (+Thanksgiving Closure REMINDER), 11/21/2018, (See more on Full Pull...)

  (Cadence Bel Canto Cara Mia Vineyard) Thanksgiving Closure REMINDER: Full Pull will be closed Thursday-Saturday Nov 22-24 to allow our team to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends. We'll be back to normal operating hours (11am-7pm) on Nov 29-Dec 1. Happy Thanksgiving! ---- Hello friends. In an industry where trends ebb and flow, vintage conditions affect available grapes, and staff changes can mean reinvention, it can be hard for wineries to nail down a house style. In our corner of the world, a house style sets wineries apart in a sea of stand-out Washington wines; it allows consumers to purchase wine with confidence, knowing exactly what to expect from a bottle they haven’t tasted. We’ve long waxed poetic about Cadence—and winemaker Ben Smith’s ability to master the art of a house style. He has created a vineyard-focused bordeaux lineup that is consistent year in and year out. His house style focuses on three components: textural elegance, carefully-tended structure, and finely-tuned balance. What’s fascinating about this vintage release is watching Ben, whose area of expertise is decidedly elegance, deal with the hottest vintage on record and still succeed wildly.Bel Canto has always been well-loved for its profound Cabernet Franc character. Here the Franc is proportionally a little less than previous vintages, at 44% of the blend, with Merlot making up the other 56%, but it is still wholly present. The wine clocks in at 14.8% listed alcohol, and for me, the nose truly soars in this vintage. Maybe it’s the higher proportion of Red Mountain Merlot; maybe it’s the vintage itself; maybe it’s the expert winemaking skills of Ben Smith. (It’s probably the expert skills of Ben Smith.) Vibrant yet concentrated fruit rules, supported by dried herbs and florals, anise and minerals. Texturally, this is expertly layered and as classy as ever. This wine hits all its marks when it comes to house style—it has outstanding textural elegance, boasts a strong yet thoughtful structure, and exists in a place of balance, carefully meeting sophistication with strength, fruit with earth, the rugged with the refined. This is a Washington trophy wine for the cellar, without a doubt. Jeb Dunnuck: Copyrighted material withheld.