CADE Winery Tasting with CellarPass
Hello Friends,
I recently had an opportunity to join CellarPassTV for a live virtual tasting with CADE Winery. CellarPassTV, who I have done previous tastings with, is an informative live wine broadcast where some of California’s top winemakers, winery owners, and people in the food and wine industry are interviewed by Sarah Elliman. Their website, CellarPass.com, is a leading destination for online winery reservations that’s well worth checking out if you’re planning a trip to California wine country.
CADE Winery Tasting with CellarPass
CADE Winery, located in the Napa Valley atop Howell Mountain, is the appellation’s first Gold LEED-certified winery. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design; so, they are extremely green. Being at a high elevation, I can only imagine how wonderful the views are from the tasting room. The winery specializes in small batch Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. See my notes on the wines below. I found both to be extremely pleasing (and so did my guests).
Pouring CADE Winery 2011 Sauvignon Blanc
1) CADE Winery 2011 [Oakville] Sauvignon Blanc (SRP $46): This small-lot (507 cases) Sauvignon Blanc sounds pretty interesting on paper -- 77% Sauvignon Blanc, 13% Viognier, and 10% Semillon. It is fermented and aged eleven months in 30% new French oak, 57% once used French oak, and the remainder in a concrete ‘Easter Egg’ tank. A percentage of the wine in new barrels (approximately 11%) is aged in larger “Cigar” barrels to balance the wine to oak ratio. This Sauvignon Blanc, in my opinion, is fully appreciated at cellar temperature (55°F); which brings out its texture, barrel accents, and underlying mineral notes. Served chilled, these niceties would totally be missed. A pleasant core of citrus fruit aromas fill the nose along with (subtle) floral scents, lemon grass, (sweet) almond butter and vanilla spice notes. The aromas extend to the palate with well-integrated components and a pleasing, creamy texture that’s lifted by juicy acidity that lingers through to the medium-length finish. I enjoyed this wine both on its own and with a plate of sea scallops. Click here to find this wine.
CADE Winery 2011 [Oakville] Sauvignon Blanc
2) CADE Winery Howell Mountain 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon (SRP $80): This deeply colored and expressive (particularly the aromatics) Cabernet has a splash (4%) of Merlot and is barrel fermented and barrel matured for 19 months (80% new and 20% once used) in French oak. It boasts inviting blackberry, boysenberry and crème de cassis aromas with kirsch, vanilla bean, cocoa powder, and a pleasant underlying minty quality. The wine is full-bodied on the palate with a velvety texture and balances the 15.2% ABV well. It has good depth of flavor and length with refined tannins and a nicely developed backbone of acid due to a slightly cooler growing season. It’s drinking nicely now – especially with a little air – and, in my opinion, is a good candidate for short term cellaring to see how it evolves over time. Factoid: The Howell Mountain designation (1983) was the first sub-appellation in the greater Napa Valley (1981) to be recognized as an American Viticulture Area. Click here to find this wine.
CADE Winery Howell Mountain 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon
Have a question about this post? Feel free to drop me an e-mail at myvinespot@yahoo.com or hit me up on Facebook or Twitter. Stay tuned ...more to come. Happy Sipping, my friends! Disclosure: These wines were received as a media sample for an event. Thoughts are my own.
CADE matches closures to the style of the wine.
Click here to get my blog posts delivered to your inbox!
Live, Love, Laugh, Tweet, Sip, Enjoy!
- Please Click Here to vote Dezel's My Vine Spot as your favorite wine blog - You can vote 1x per day!
- Click Here to follow me on Twitter.
- Friend me up on Face-Book here.
Thanks for reading and please tell your wine-loving friends about the blog. Cheers!
