2016 Sheridan L'Orage Cabernet Sauvignon
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Tasting notes
Beginning with a dense and chewy core of fruit, the 2016 L'Orage opens with a clean and dusty mineral focus with black and dark red fruit tones in the glass. Full-bodied, the wine turns slightly tart on the palate, showing energetic and lifting acidity across the bold and complex mid-palate. The wine ends with a tannic grip and flavors of blackberry and cherry skin and subtle baking spices on the long, lingering finish. This is a food-friendly wine, and it should age for more than a decade. With 2,200 cases made, you’ll want to add some of this to your cellar.
Critic scores
Average Score
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Dark red-ruby. Ripe aromas of musky blackberry, cassis, blueberry, mocha and graphite, plus notes of leather and tobacco. Supple, glossy and sweet but with sound framing acidity to its concentrated flavors of dark berries, plum, tobacco and minerals. This may be less plush than the Block 1 Cabernet but it wears its oak more lightly. And it possesses a savory complexity that some of Sheridan's reds have lacked in the past. Finishes quite long, with a whiff of woodsmoke and firm but well-supported tannins that saturate the front teeth. I like this wine's relative restraint--and it has the tannic support for a graceful evolution in bottle.
The Cabernet Sauvignon dominated 2016 L’Orage, which normally includes some Cabernet Franc, offers a dark, earthy, herbal style in its red and black fruits, cedarwood, and tobacco aromas and flavors. It’s medium to full-bodied, concentrated, and structured, with enough firm tannins to warrant 4-5 years of bottle age.