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Mosquito Fleet Winery 2011 Griffersen Reserve Dessert Wine, Columbia Valley, $50

This Kitsap Peninsula winery focuses its portfolio on red wines, and its Port-style offering that began with foot-pressed Touriga Naçional is a delicious fit. Traditionally, chiropractic vintner Brian Petersen uses a historic image of one of the small ships that darted across the Puget Sound a century ago, but here he cleverly pays tribute to the rabelo – those wooden boats that for centuries plied the waters of the Douro River in Portugal and took casks of fortified wines to market. The 2011 Griffersen brings classic aromas of golden raisin, poached cherry, milk chocolate and a Tootsie Roll. It’s structure follows with black cherry, blueberry pie crust and toffee with good sweetness (9% residual sugar) wrapped by decent tannins. There’s some heat behind its finish of vanilla bourbon as it straddles the fence between a tawny and ruby Port.
Rating: Excellent
Production: 135 cases
Alcohol: 20.3%
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