coda, n. a. A music passage of more or less independent character introduced after the completion of the essential parts of a movement, so as to form a satisfactory conclusion, b. The second label of Cadence winery. The home for barrels not essential to our estate or vineyard blends.

Tasting Notes: Already complex and seamless, Coda shows the quality of the 2020 vintage with notes of rose petal, dark cherry, and hints of menthol on the nose. The palate brings these flavors and more – Red Mountain dirt and minerals, more red fruit, and a completely beguiling silky, caressing Cabernet Franc texture. The acidity and tannins are present but not intrusive, aiding a long, building finish.

2020 is the first vintage of the Cadence Coda blend made exclusively from estate fruit! (Think of it as a baby version of their Bel Canto wine.) For that reason, production is a bit lower this year at just 500 cases.

Ben Smith and Gaye McNutt of Cadence winery worked with the folks at Day Moon (a small printing company on Beacon Hill that works with a 100+-year-old printing press) to create the image on the Coda label back in 2015. “The Coda label image is four pieces of hand-set movable lead typeset in a two-line printers bar ready for inking and printing," Ben says. "When printed with sufficient pressure, this type creates a beautiful letterpress emboss that is the epitome of the printer’s art.”

This process is emblematic of the Cadence winery itself: small, family-owned, detail-oriented, hands-on, and focused on quality over quantity.

Photo 1: The individual pieces of lead type next to the Cadence logo (a violin scroll), are set up in the printing press.

Photo 2: Tess LeNoir works the press at Beacon Hill-based Day Moon, the printing company started by her parents, Jack and Maura, in the 1970s.