2013 Red Wine Bel Canto

In recent vintages, Ben Smith has taken his Cadence wines to the top echelon in Washington. And with the vines he and his wife Gaye McNutt planted in their Cara Mia vineyard in 2004 on the verge of entering their teen years, the best is yet to come. The Cadence wines always had energy, but recent vintages have brought denser, sweeter wines with any loss of vibrancy. Smith is routinely an early picker, and he noted that the harvest of 2013, the second warmest vintage to that point behind 2003, was a bit rushed for him, as he wanted to bring in the fruit before potential alcohol levels skyrocketed. Still, he emphasized, the 2013s “exhibit drive and thrust that can only be compared to 2011, but with richer, more forward fruit than that of 2012.” He went on: "The ‘13s have the structure and acidity to appeal to the Euro crowd. The ‘13s, along with the ‘11s, are my favorite vintages of the past ten years.”

Cadence’s entry-level wine, Coda, is a standout in 2014. This was the first year that vineyard guru Dick Boushey managed the Cara Mia vineyard, and yields were very low. In fact, total Cadence production in ’14 will be just 1,700 cases, the lowest since 2005.