"Darling Pet Monkey"

tastes like fresh cranberries

This wine has no business being this delicious. We were recommended to try this wine by our friend Annie Cheng, who runs the Table Less Traveled, a travel and culinary education company. Her palate is honed to wines that are food-friendly and naturally produced.

This wine is produced in Prosser, but made by Archipelago Wines, based on San Juan Island. The Darling Pet Monkey is a blend of Counoise and Syrah. Counoise is traditionally used in blends, where it often adds that slight bit of paprika spice and color to a cuvée. In the Southern Rhône valley, it’s often disregarded, and rarely bottled on its own. That’s why this wine was such a surprise. It actually celebrates Counoise as the focal point. This wine changed my opinion on Counoise. I’ve had oaky, syrupy versions, and weak, watery rosés, but this light-bodied spicy red seems to be the winemaking target for this wine.

This wine is a perfect Thanksgiving wine–it’s bright, spicy, and cheerful. This tastes like fresh cranberries and finishes just as tart. Notes of strawberry blossom and green peppercorn are complemented by white cherry and pomegranate. This is one of those fridge-chillable red wines (a category we just love), but it’s great at room temp too!