Cadence Winery

Cadence Winery

Ben Smith and Gaye McNutt of Cadence Winery are former Microsoft employees who caught the wine bug back in the '90's and are known for their dinky dinky dinky amounts of extremely nice blended red wines. Sort of "junior Chris Camardas" (Andrew Will Winery) they do three or four single vineyard reds each year, striving to express the terroir of each vineyard.

Cadence is dedicated to showcasing the finest vineyard sites in Washington State. Their Bordeaux-styled blends are their interpretation of the best qualities reflected in Washington’s greatest vineyard terroirs. Ben and Gaye believe blending creates a balanced wine of greater character than the individual components. Their wines express the power, intensity or elegance of the vineyard reflected in the characteristics of the varietals on the vineyard site.

Rhythm
is the way of life
for Cadence Winery

By Christina Kelly

When is it time to skip a beat, break away from the paced steps of life’s forward motion and create a tempo all your own?

For Ben Smith, a Boeing engineer, it happened in 1997, when he and his wife, Gaye McNutt, created Cadence Winery in Seattle. The couple produces small quantities of Bordeaux blends with big, luscious flavors, lots of fruit and spice.

Producing commercial wine was not in the plans for Smith, who went to work for Boeing in 1993. McNutt, a Microsoft attorney, was busy with litigation and traveling for the software company. Smith dabbled in making homemade beer, and he and McNutt enjoyed wine as consumers.

Colleagues at Boeing introduced Smith to the aeronautic company’s wine club, where Smith became a member and quickly began making his own wine.

“I just got hooked,” Smith said. “People liked the wine I produced and I was getting noticed at the annual Boeing wine competition. It became a passion.”

The modest Smith was winning the top awards for winemaking at the Boeing gatherings, when someone planted the seed that he should make wine commercially. He was somewhat frustrated as an engineer and looking for ways to express more creativity.

As McNutt recalled, the couple decided to purchase 10.5 acres of land on Red Mountain, one of the state’s finest regions for growing grapes.

“This happened before we got engaged or concretely decided that we were going to start the winery,” McNutt said. “Over the summer of 1997, we developed a business plan. My experience as a business lawyer and earlier financial analyst experience turned out to be the perfect complement to Ben’s knowledge of the (wine) industry.”

Welcome the newest member
of the Cadence family-
their "Harvest Baby"!

Cadence took on life in 1998, as Smith produced two distinctive wine blends, released commercially last year. He produced a 1998 Tapteil Vineyard blend, featuring 49 percent of cabernet sauvignon, balanced with 26 percent of merlot, 21 percent cabernet franc and 5 percent of petit verdot. The 1998 Spring Valley Vineyard blend from Walla Walla was 70 percent merlot, with 17 percent petit verdot and 13 percent cabernet franc.

Harvest baby growing up quick- now she's "Spa Baby"!

After only three years, Smith and McNutt were producing some of the highest quality Bordeaux blends in Washington, and it is not by accident. The couple decided to make some sacrifices so that Smith could work in the winery full time and give up his day job. McNutt agreed to continue working for the bread and butter in hopes that Smith could produce a comfortable living from the winery, located near downtown Seattle.

“It was a bit of a leap of faith,” McNutt said. “Balancing a little short term pain for the chance of long term success of the winery seemed like a very good trade. We knew we were heading in the direction of Ben doing this full time, anyway.”

Business has been good so far. Cadence is sold in premiere restaurants in Seattle, and mailing lists have nearly guaranteed a sell-out of each vintage. Consistently high Wine Spectator scores have helped to establish the winery as something special.

Both Smith and McNutt appear to be content with the pace, or the cadence of the winery. McNutt juggles a heavy schedule at Microsoft to find time for harvest and crush, weekend bottling and blending. Family members help out during crucial times. Early mornings or late evenings will catch both Smith and McNutt performing punch downs during harvest, or blending experiments.

The winery name, Cadence, represents many factors in the young couple’s lives. Both played classical music on violin and piano and support the Seattle Symphony. But music cadence is only a part of the rhythm of their lives. In addition, Smith is a cyclist and McNutt a tri-athlete. Cadence is the number of pedal revolutions in cycling.

“It just seem to fit,” Smith said. “It’s about balance in the wines in life.”

copyright 2005 Jean Yates Inc all rights reserved

The nose is savory in spades with chocolate, tobacco, berries and spice. The aromas echo on the palate, with a breadth and volume to the mouthfeel that cannot come from anything but Cabernet Franc. Th
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39% Cabernet Franc 32% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot Tobacco, spice and black berry aromas pour out of the glass. The wine really expands in the middle with an explosion of black fru
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66% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon A nose of black and red fruit, spice with depth. The palate offers precise flavors of plums and berries that build to a pure finish and fine, lingering tannins. A wi
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78% Cabernet Franc, 22% Cabernet Sauvignon Captivating aromas of raspberry preserves, tobacco and smoke. Very soft and supple on the palate, with a delightful, mouthwatering freshness to the fruit.
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Available as part of the 2004 Washinton Big Reds Case

Wine Spectator rating 93 points (3-26-07):
"Polished, open-textured and refined, this is generous with red currant, ras
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Cadence Winery

Cadence Winery

Rhythm is the way of life for Cadence Winery

Rhythm
is the way of life
for Cadence Winery