2012 Allegro Bridge

What I remember about 2012 was that it was the first time we had to deal with multiple frost scares in the same year.  We had an astoundingly early budbreak, and if I remember correctly, we had three nights where the temperatures dipped below freezing here in the Brogue.

I know I had discovered a new material to spray our vines with called KDL from Agro-K.  It was a mixture of potassium (K) and dextro-lac (sugar) that I sprayed on our vines the day before a frost event.  It seemed to have worked just like putting salt on icy winter roads.  The green leaves took up the mixture and it lowered the freezing point of the moisture in the cells, thus allowing them to escape unharmed.

With such an early start, it meant our growing season was extended significantly.  Here in Pennsylvania, that's a double-edged sword.  Yes, it allows us more days to ripen our fruit, but at the same time it means more days that we have to ward off the evil rots and mildews that try to ruin it.  It was a long year, but we were rewarded with remarkable wines.

The Bridge from 2012 was the fourth time we had made this wine.  I have always described it as our "second" wine.  Not quite Cadenza, but damn good, and the 2012 is no exception.  It is dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon from our old vineyard, with almost equal parts of Merlot (also from us) and Petit Verdot (from Maryland.)  

This wine was tough as nails when I first bottled it in 2014.  I remember tasting it with the 2013 a year later and pulling it off the shelves and putting it in the back until it was closer to drinkability.  I had some serious doubts that I didn't voice, but I worried if it would ever come around.  And it finally has.

Today, the wine is a medium garnet color with enticing aromas of cherries and spice.  There is a sweetness to the tannins with a meaty finish.  This wine is at its peak finally, and is a wonderful meal partner.  

I'd be careful pouring it due to some sediment at the bottom.  Keeping it upright for a day before opening it helps as well.  I also like to pour older wines down the sides of my wine glass like I would a beer as this seems to help keep the older aromas and flavors from escaping so quickly.  Older wines seem to winnow out in your glass with too much air.  It makes them seem thin.  Pouring them carefully means the fruit helps to stay in your glass to beat the tannins and acid into submission, making for a more enjoyable experience.