Cadence’s 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon from the estate Cara Mia Vineyard is a single-vineyard, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from Red Mountain, Washington—an AVA known for heat and structure, but where Cadence (Ben Smith and Gaye McNutt) has built a reputation for a more refined, balanced take on Bordeaux varieties.

This bottling sits firmly in that house style, drawing plenty of praise for perfume, mineral detail, and poise. James Suckling awarded an excellent 97 points, highlighting “wonderful aromas of wild sage, thyme, crushed roses, anise and bright red fruit,” followed by a “medium bodied” palate with “chalky minerality, fresh acidity, silky tannin” and a long finish marked by “mint, cocoa and orange peel.” Decanter also delivered an excellent 95-point review, noting it is “comprised of clones 191 and 08” and describing it as “fruit driven on the nose” with “ripe berries and cherry flesh” plus “dusty rose petal and church candle.” On the palate, Decanter calls it “poised and intense,” finishing with “a lingering stony minerality.”

Several critics emphasize a cooler-toned, tightly built profile that should reward patience. Vinous (94 points) finds “violet and lavender…dusty stone…orange zest and crushed blackberries,” calling the wine “cool-toned and sleek” before it “tapers off youthfully tense and tightly knit,” advising, “Have patience with this young beauty” (Eric Guido). Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate rates it 93+ and reports it was “matured for 15 months in 50% new French oak,” with “ripe yet muscular tannins” and a “long, graphite-laced finish,” adding that “350 cases were made” and that it “will benefit from time in the cellar” (EB).

Jeb Dunnuck (94 points) sums up the through-line: “balance and grace,” “seamless on the palate,” and “a savory, mineral-driven finish,” predicting it “should keep going through 2040.”