Westport Winery NV Rapture of the Deep Sparkling Cranberry, Washington, $28
Grays Harbor County produces some of the continent’s best cranberries, and Westport winemaker Dana Roberts uses those to create one of the Pacific Northwest’s easiest-to-like wines. Given a blindfold, you mind think there’s more than cranberry in store with secondary hints of raspberry and blood orange. There’s no mistaking that it’s cranberry wine because of the purity of fruit on the palate. Sure, there’s a smooch of sweetness (12% residual sugar), but there’s pleasing bitterness, cleansing acidity, fun bubbles and a nibble of tannin to create impeccable balance. At his family’s on-premise Farm to Fork Restaurant, the staff suggests enjoying this with Chicken Gordon Gold, and sales of this wine help support the Driftwood Theater in nearby Aberdeen. The Roberts family’s latest edition just won a double gold at the 2016 Tri-Cities Wine Festival, which means everyone on the six-person panel deemed it worthy of a gold medal — including a Master of Wine. Westport now operates a tasting room in Cannon Beach, Ore., so even Ducks can more easily enjoy this with their holiday bird — or as an aperitif.
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