23. Mosquito Fleet Winery 2010 Sophia, Columbia Valley, $29
Owner/winemaker Brian Petersen has been able to get into some serious vineyards in just his second vintage with this winery in Washington’s Mason County. This red blend of Syrah (73%), Mourvèdre (19%) and Cabernet Sauvignon uses grapes from Elephant Mountain in the Yakima Valley and Double Canyon in the Horse Heaven Hills. It reveals aromas of black olive, blackberry, ripe plum and dark chocolate, followed by juicy flavors of Marionberry, vanilla bean and spices. It’s all backed with a core of lively acidity and rich, chocolaty tannins. Enjoy with lamb, sautéed mushrooms or teriyaki beef. This wine features the SS Sophia on the label. This was a tugboat-turned-ferry built in 1884 that served in the Mosquito Fleet between Tacoma and Henderson Bay.
Production: 250 cases
Alcohol: 15%
Lists such as this are nice. But I content that wines with a production of less then 250 cases should not be included. There are wines here with microscopic production levels. That just amounts to teasing the vast majority of the readers.
Jim,
A valid point. I would contend that highlighting even small-production wines gives wine lovers an idea about what wineries to visit or wines to try.
Additionally, this is a bit of a slippery slope. Do we also exclude wines based on price point because they are accessible primarily to those only able to afford them?
We went into this with the thought of picking out the very best wines we tasted in 2013. During the process, we didn’t look at price point or production level. As a result, we also ended up with a lot of wines in which tens of thousands of cases were produced (in addition to small-production wines).