I’m taking a different approach to reporting on the Portuguese wines we find in the US, as we went through a bit of a drought in them–and then, now, as I write this in early April, the stay-at-home order that covers us in Maryland limits our ability to search for more. We may have a good remedy for that, so I remain optimistic!
Rather than do a week=by-week play of the wines we had in February, I’ll just outline a few of them here. We honestly spent more time drinking down the remnants of the cellar I brought east from Colorado when we returned to Maryland last fall. Thankfully, most of the wines were not yet past their prime, though we had a couple of stunning disappointments. My mostly northern-California collection featured Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from Sonoma Coast and Russian River Valley, alongside Zinfandels from Lake and Sonoma counties, and the inevitable Cabernet Sauvignons, Syrahs, and Merlots from Napa Valley.
We started February with a 2005 Rutherford Cabernet from St. Supery, still drinking passably well. We tucked into a 2012 Russian River Pinot Noir from Hartford Family that was a bit over the hill, sadly, but their 2013 Chardonnay from the coast was still lively–go figure! A 2010 Cakebread Cabernet Sauvignon we found in fine form, lots of trademark leather and mint aromas with stewed Morello cherries on the palate–moderate tannins, but still structured. We polished off a couple of bottles of 2010 and 2012 Zinfandel that was making a curtain call–but that’s to be expected, as Zins just don’t seem to last as long.