Every year Port of Leonardtown winemaker Lauren Zimmerman promises me my own bottle of Barbera or Chambourcin Reserve for review when we both attend Eastern Winery Exposition each year. That, and I love those two wines. Two of my favorites from Maryland. I invariably see her several times during the course of the show. But the last few years I have missed her on the day she has the said bottle. And for the last two years David Falchek, one of the moderates at the Expo collects it on my behalf (only to drink it with his lovely wife - leaving me out). I somehow think this is a scam, a prank, Lucy, pulling the football away, and letting me swing through. I half expect Ashton Kutcher to walk out from behind a curtain, with a camera crew, yelling, "You've been punk'd!"
Of course, I jest. Lauren is one of the coolest and talented winemakers on the east coast. She's doing wonderful things down there in the southern part of Maryland working with the cooperative that formed Port of Leonardtown. And she's been turning out innovative and well made quality wines the entire time she's been there.
Despite Falchek's outright theft of my intended bottle, I did get to taste the Port of Leonardtown Barbera Reserve 2019 and the 2022 at the event's Grand Tasting. The 2015 vintage of that wine had won the Maryland Governor's Cup in 2019. These two were spectacular!
Port of Leonardtown Barbera Reserve 2019 is a medium bodied, dry red wine with flavors of black cherry, plum, raspberry, and a hint of tobacco. Aged in a variety of French oak, old and new, the resulting wine is a wonderful wine with rich flavor, excellent structure and incredible lingering flavor.
Port of Leonardtown Barbera Reserve 2022 is a big bowl of red fruit. Bright and dark cherries, notes of plum, raspberry, and even a hint of strawberry. Dry as a bone, and medium in body, this flavorful wine is balanced, complex, and super tasty. Perfect for food or sipping. An exceptional addition to this line of Barbera's.