2012 Tamarack Cellars Reserve Sagemoor Vineyard

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Tamarack Reserve, 9/3/2017

  (Tamarack Cellars Sagemoor Vineyard Release) Hello friends. It feels like a gift from the universe when we get access to the highly coveted 2012 vintage. Five years past harvest, bottles of (arguably) the greatest vintage of this century in Washington are ever-dwindling. A new release of two different 2012s from well-loved vineyards made by a Full Pull-favorite winery? Well, that is a gift indeed. [Note: neither of these wines is currently available in western Washington. We’ll be special-ordering them across the mountains as unique opportunities for our list members.]Year in and year out, Tamarack’s single-vineyard reserves are among the most consistently outstanding wines produced in Washington. The winery hasn’t raised their prices in years, so the value factor just keeps getting better and better with age. That’s why we’ve offered them pretty much every chance we’ve had over the years. This vintage marks the fifth time offering the Sagemoor Vineyard Reserve to our list. 2012 truly is considered the greatest vintage of the 2000s and nothing shows it off better than Washington’s staple: bold, red wines. This red blend is sourced wholly from Sagemoor Vineyard Group—a collection of vineyards made up of regional favorites Sagemoor, Bacchus, Dionysus, Weinbau, and Gamache. This bottling is a fine display of the continuing rehabilitation project by Kent Waliser and Lacey Lybeck on the Sagemoor properties (which are some of the oldest, most prestigious sites in all of Washington). After offering this wine three vintages in a row (‘06, ‘07, ‘08), a few years went by when we didn’t have access because of its limited quantity. Last year it returned to our grasps with the release of the 2011, and we were beyond thrilled to get our hands on the ‘12. The wine is made up of 58% Cabernet sourced from Bacchus vineyard, along with 35% Merlot and 9% Cabernet Franc, both from Weinbau. There is both a sense of typicity and nuance in Tamarack wines sourced from Sagemoor. The nose and palate present true Cabernet qualities with cassis, anise, and spice, but the palate continues into a world of herbaceous, earthy, savory qualities. This is a bottle that is equally comforting and intriguing. Jeb Dunnuck’s rave review is spot on: Wine Advocate: Copyrighted material withheld.