You're probably reading this because you received this bottle in your Cadenza Vineyards wine club shipment this month. The first question most likely is: "why's an Allegro bottle in here?" And then you read the word "Reserve" and remember that, before Cadenza Vineyards, all we had was "Reserve" wines under the Allegro brand.
This is a special wine. Sure, all the wines we make are "special," but the reserve wines are like Easter lunch as opposed to Saturday night on August 14th in 2021. Sure, the beef you grilled that night (or the Thai takeout you picked up) was pretty good, but the you reserve the best meals for the holidays or with special people. It's probably the origin of the word "reserve" come to think of it.
The 2012 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is no different. It's better than a Tuesday night dinner, but man will it elevate whatever you're having.
The 2012 vintage was unique, and I hesitate re-hashing it here since I already did so here: https://allegrowines.blogspot.com/2020/11/2012-allegro-bridge.html That said, it was a roller-coaster and warm. Too warm at times. It was my eleventh vintage here, and I was just starting to get a handle on grapegrowing. There's a point where you move from "holy hell I almost screwed that up" to "I should have tweaked that a little differently in hindsight." 2012 I was between both of those points.
In the same way, the wine has that same personality. It's remarkably balanced for a varietal Cabernet Sauvignon. Sure, there's a touch of Merlot and Petit Verdot, but the flavors and mouthfeel are all pretty dead-on at this point. Don't bring up the point that it's a nine year old wine to me....this was a tough wine and I'm counting my lucky stars that the fruit held up as the tannins were tamed.
Truth be told, I released the 2013 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon first and held this in reserve. I was fearful that this stringent structure would scare people. That was worry well-wasted. It did scare people. I had good folks asking me about this hard wine and if it would ever come around. I assured them it would, all the while worrying that it never would and I'd either need to make it up to them or--worse--be wrong. Turns out, neither came to pass. In the words of an old boss of mine, "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes."
And maybe this time the nut was me.
So, what is this wine about? It's an anomaly wine for Pennsylvania. No one in their right mind--in a blind tasting--would ever think this wine was from York county...or Pennsylvania...or the East coast for that matter. And they'd think it's probably about four years old. It's not.
The wine has cool aromatics of leather and currants and dark fruits. No hints of wood, but little bits of leather. The mouthfeel is full and yet the memories of the tight tannins are there on the front of the palate, reminding you that, yes, this is Cabernet Sauvignon. All structure and barely enough fruit to cover up to be decent. It's taken nine years to get here, but just like the vintage that spawned it, it's been quite a ride.
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