2016 Sheridan Vineyard L'Orage

• By Stephen Tanzer
  New Releases from Washington: A Bonanza for Consumers (Dec 2019), 12/1/2019, (See more on Vinous...)

  (Sheridan Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon L'orage Washington Red) Login and sign up and see review text.

JebDunnuck.com

• By Jeb Dunnuck
  The 2016s From Washington State, 4/11/2019, (See more on JebDunnuck.com...)

  (Sheridan Vineyard L'Orage Red) Login and sign up and see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Yak Valley Vigneron, 3/14/2019

  (Sheridan Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon L'Orage) Hello friends. We have a pair of spring releases from Sheridan Vineyard today, a winery that has been hotter than hot the past few years, darlings of consumers and press alike. If we don’t time up this offer each year just right, we miss out. This year, we’re timed up right. Scott Greer is that rare Washington bird: a true vigneron, managing both viticulture (growing grapes) and vinification (making wine), and doing it all from estate vineyards. The rarity of the model in Washington is a structural/geographical issue. Unfortunately in Washington, many of the places that are among the best for growing grapes are likewise among the worst for living. I mean, good luck convincing a young, promising winemaker to set up shop in the Horse Heaven Hills. Easier to contract with a grower, set up in Woodinville, and begin enjoying that bumpin’ eastside nightlife. Because the vigneron model is rare, they tend to stand out, and we tend to offer them. That’s been true since our early days. Our first Sheridan offer was in December 2009, part of a select bunch of wineries we offered in our first few months of existence (we launched in October of that year). Nearly a decade later, the relationship is still going strong.What seems to happen every year: we offer this wine in springtime. Then a few weeks later, Jeb Dunnuck releases his review, and that’s all she wrote for reorder requests. It was true with the 94pt 2015 vintage. It was especially true with the 96pt 2014 vintage, which Jeb said tasted “like a blend of Pontet Canet and Shafer Hillside Select.” Yikes. Our first L’Orage vintage was the 2006, and I believe we’ve offered every vintage since then. And while Sheridan has subsequently introduced higher-tier wines (Block 1, Boss Block, Singularity), I still think of L’Orage very much as the flagship, as an introduction to the Sheridan house style: dense layers of delicious fruit; massive structure; incredible concentration. The wine is named after the freak hailstorm that hit 1997-planted Sheridan Vineyard in 2001, decimating the site at a seriously vulnerable time. Fourth or fifth leaf. Right when you’re supposed to start seeing some return on the sloooooooow-cash-flow investment. There’s something about choosing that name, about the spirit of defiance and optimism in the face of everything that mother nature throws at an honest vigneron, that just gets me. It’s hard to make it in winegrowing and winemaking if you don’t possess that kind of attitude. I don't have a proper tasting note for the '16, because our sample bottle was corked, and we've run out of time for a replacement. But we all know what to expect from L'Orage at this point, don't we? Layers of fruit - cherries and berries, stone fruits and tropicals - complicated by barrel tones of cedar and smoke. A marvel of concentration and inky intensity.