Camas Prairie Winery 2020 Raspberry Mead, Idaho, $14

Best Buy! Year after year, judges hang gold medals on Jeremy Ritter’s honey-based wines as he furthers the delicious history of this family-owned winery that began in the Idaho Panhandle in 1983. In the winter of 2015, Ritter production from Moscow to the town of Bovill, a small logging town in the foothills of Idaho’s Bitterroot Mountains. He starts with the lightest local honey he can acquire, and in this case adds local raspberries. The color is a beautiful pink, with delicate flavors of raspberry. The body is medium with a slight acidity that balances the sweetness (4.5% residual sugar) of the honey and raspberry. It’s a light dessert in a glass, and angel food cake with fresh berries would create a great match. Last year, it earned a gold medal at the 2020 Idaho Wine Competition. Last fall, it grabbed gold again on its way to the title as the Best Sweet Wine at 2020 Great Northwest Invitational Wine Competition, a judging staged at the historic Columbia Gorge Hotel in Hood River, Ore., on behalf of sommeliers, wine merchants and journalists from across the country. This spring, it brought home a double gold medal at the 2021 Cacadia International Wine Competition.

Rating: Outstanding!

Production: 250 cases

Alcohol 12%

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