Mendocino County Wine Tour, August 2017 (Part 1) – Halcón, Drew
I’ve posted a portion of a report on an August wine trip to Mendocino County. The report has been split into two parts, and the portion below is from Part 1 of 2. I’ll post one more segment from the trip in the next day or two. The full reports for each day of the trip can be found on the Grape-Nutz.com website – here’s the link for Part 1:
Mendocino County Wine Tour - August 2017 - Part 1
The full Part 1 write-up includes visits to:
Halcón Vineyards
Drew Family Cellars
Drew Family Cellars
I drove northwest from Yorkville Highlands and through another winding portion of Highway 128 until I reached Anderson Valley. The valley is a beautiful area and thankfully the road straightens out there considerably, passing through the small town of Boonville and even smaller town of Philo. Just past Philo, I turned west on Philo-Greenwood Road and headed back into the mountains. The road curves through the wooded area and ends at the town of Elk on Highway 1 along the coast. I didn’t have to travel quite that far, but almost – my destination was the vineyard and winery of Drew Family Cellars, located along a ridge at nearly 1,300-foot elevation but barely three miles from the ocean. This is part of the Mendocino Ridge AVA, which stretches through a vast and remote region southwest of Anderson Valley. Mendocino Ridge has been nicknamed “Islands in the Sky” – it’s the only non-contiguous winegrowing appellation in California, limited to vineyard land that is 1,200 feet or higher in elevation.
I’d been familiar with the Drew wines for many years and I’d visited with Jason and Molly Drew at their winery in early 2008, but I had not yet seen their estate vineyard that they planted in 2011. I had no problem following the directions Jason had given me, and as I found a place to park near the winery building, Boggs, one of the Drews’ dogs greeted me immediately. With the “visitor alert” sounded, Jason soon came out to welcome me as well.
Jason Drew
Both Jason and Molly grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Jason earned a degree from UC Santa Cruz in agricultural ecology with an emphasis on viticulture, as well as a master’s degree in enology from the University of Adelaide in Australia. He worked at Navarro Vineyards in Anderson Valley in the mid-1990s before moving to Santa Barbara County, where he became the associate winemaker at Babcock Vineyards. It was while Jason and Molly were still in Santa Barbara County that they established their winery in 2000, and they’ve always been focused mainly on Pinot Noir although Syrah has been an important part of their production over the years as well. The early years of Drew featured Pinots that were mainly sourced from Sta. Rita Hills as well as Syrah from the Ballard Canyon and Los Alamos regions.
By the early 2000s, Jason and Molly had decided that they wanted to return to the North Coast. They were looking for a coastal site to grow Pinot Noir, and the Mendocino Ridge area appealed to them. They found the 26-acre property in 2004 and loved it right away, purchasing it that same year. Jason and Molly moved there and initially lived in a 19-foot Airstream trailer with their young children while their new combination winery / home was built – when Jason told me that their kids are now 16 and 19, I realized just how long it had been since I’d visited! The winery portion was complete enough for use during the 2005 harvest, though the living space above wasn’t finished until the middle of the following year. The handsome wood structure is large enough to accommodate a 5,000-case production, and the Drews currently produce about 2,500 cases per year, with all fairly small lot bottlings. The last Drew wines made from Santa Barbara County fruit were from the 2008 vintage, and since then they’ve worked almost exclusively with Mendocino County fruit. They currently focus entirely on fruit from Mendocino Ridge and Anderson Valley.
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Jason suggested that we start with a short walk through part of the vineyard, since I hadn’t seen it since it was planted. He told me that one of the things that he and Molly were interested in when they were looking for property in the area in 2004 was a site that had uplifted ocean floor soil rather than alluvial soil. Their vineyard has this – it contains Franciscan soil types, with iron-rich, gravelly loam soil, sandstone, and shale. Another key to the site is the proximity to the ocean, allowing a direct channel of cool air from the coast to flow through the vineyard. Due to the airflow and the ridgetop location, there are no frost issues at the site, and the elevation above the fogline helps keep mildew pressure in check. There’s considerably more rainfall there than in Anderson Valley itself, making dry-farming a goal that Jason is pursuing. He’s working with deficit irrigation in order to encourage the vine roots to go deeper for water, a step toward ultimately dry-farming the vines. Jason noted that because of the cool and windy coastal conditions at the site, the vines produce smaller clusters and smaller berries than is typical in Anderson Valley. As with many other Mendocino Ridge appellation Pinot Noirs, the early Drew estate Pinots have shown a somewhat darker fruit profile than those from Anderson Valley, with more acid and tannin.
The Drews’ entire ranch is certified organic, and Jason said that he’s trying out some biodynamic farming methods as well. The property includes an apple orchard planted in the 1960s. Although they took out a portion of the orchard in order to plant their vineyard, there are still lots of apple trees with a number of varieties. In addition to their wine, Jason and Molly produce a cider called “Sur La Mer” which is very good – they made about 500 cases of it last year. As mentioned earlier, they planted their vineyard in 2011 (with the first vintage from estate fruit in 2014), and it may be the westernmost commercial vineyard in California. There are currently about seven acres planted with eight clones of Pinot Noir – 943, 115, 667, 828, Mount Eden, Swan, Calera, and Pommard. Jason told me that about 10% of the vines in each block are planted on their own roots, while he’s been doing rootstock trials on one block of 115 clone Pinot – these include 101-14, SO4, and RS-9 rootstocks. Jason showed me an open area where they may plant an additional block, possibly with Chardonnay or Syrah. When I visited the vineyard in early August, there was no veraison evident anywhere that I could see. Jason noted that they have been able to get good “hang time” so far for their estate fruit while maintaining fairly low sugar, with an aim to pick in the 22-23 brix range.
Molly Drew and Scout
Jason and I headed back through the vineyard toward the winery building, and Molly was nearby with Scout, one of her two horses – she loves horses and has enjoyed riding for many years. Molly manages the Drew tasting room in Philo in addition to a number of other responsibilities for the business. She also tends their small flock of sheep, as well as chickens and bees they keep at the property – it’s all part of maintaining a healthy ecosystem there. After a brief chat with Molly, Jason and I stepped into the winery and he proceeded to open a number of new Drew releases for me. All of the Drew reds are made with at least some whole-cluster fermentation, generally ranging from 10% to 40% for both Pinots and Syrahs. Smaller fermentation vessels are used, and the wines undergo native fermentations, with punchdowns. The Pinots are aged in varying percentages of new oak, with some bottlings I tasted (such as “The Fog-Eater”) using no new oak and others (Joshua’s Vineyard) aged in up to 50% new French oak. There’s typically no new oak used for aging the Syrahs. Alcohol for all of the Drew reds is modest, generally around 13.5%.
Jason started me out with the 2015 Pinot Noir from Valenti Ranch, a Mendocino Ridge site just off of Philo-Greenwood Road between the Drew property and Anderson Valley. Jason noted that the fruit came from the middle and lower sections of the vineyard, and that the berries from there are always small and intense. Next was a 2015 Pinot from a new source for Drew, Joshua’s Vineyard. Located in Anderson Valley northwest of Philo, it’s well into the “Deep End” of the valley. It’s a one-acre organically-farmed vineyard planted in the early 1970s with an unknown clone of Pinot – the vines are own-rooted and dry-farmed. The 2015 “The Fog-Eater” Pinot was sourced from Valenti, Balo, Fashauer, Perli, and Joshua’s vineyards. The name of the wine comes from the Boontling (a fascinating Anderson Valley dialect) term that local residents gave to coastal dwellers. All three wines displayed the forest floor / mushroom component that is so distinctive of this region as well as savory notes and fine acidity.
We followed these wines with the first two vintages of Pinot from Jason and Molly’s estate vineyard, from 2014 and 2015. Both vintages of the “Estate Field Selections” bottling include Pommard, 943, 115, Swan, 667, and Mount Eden clones, with the 2015 having more whole-cluster fermentation (40% vs. 20%) and both aged in about 30-33% new French oak. Yields from the young vines were low in these first two years – especially so in 2015 – so production of these two wines has been quite limited. Each of these wines showed both elegance and intensity, with a similar but distinct character from the two vintages – a very promising start to the Drew estate Pinot program.
Moving on to Syrah, Jason poured me the 2015 “The Ornbaun” bottling. The fruit was sourced from Valenti and Perli vineyards in the Mendocino Ridge region, and the name refers to a soil type found in the area. With appealing floral and black olive aromas, this wine is a particularly fine value. We continued with the 2015 Perli Vineyard Syrah – the site is farther south than the Drew property, in an even more remote location deep in the mountains at about 2,000-foot elevation. The final Syrah was the 2015 from Valenti Ranch. Both the Perli and Valenti bottlings featured elements of meat, iron, and pepper – terrific cooler-climate Syrahs.
Jason and Molly were heading to a dinner that evening but since Jason still had some time before they needed to leave, he asked me if I wanted to try some barrel samples – that’s something I rarely turn down! We started out with various 2016 Syrah samples, mostly from puncheons. Jason took me through Perli Vineyard Syrahs from 877 clone and McDowell selection – he noted that he uses less whole-cluster fermentation on the McDowell selection Syrah there to preserve its gamey character. We tried Valenti Ranch Syrah from Clone 1 and Chave clone, including a comparison of Chave clone samples with and without added SO2. We concluded the barrel tasting with four 2016 estate Pinot samples, from 828, 943, 115, and Pommard clones – unlike the other samples I tasted with Jason, the Pommard was from entirely destemmed fruit. Jason noted that many of the 2016 barrel samples had just recently finished malolactic fermentation.
There were still two more bottles to taste before we were finished. Jason opened their bright and citrusy 2016 Albariño, sourced from Valenti Ranch. The fruit was picked at 21.5 brix and the wine was made entirely in stainless steel with no malolactic fermentation. We wrapped things up with their “Sur La Mer” Brut Cider. Made from Gravenstein, Jonathan, Rhode Island Greening, and Philo Gold apples (plus a little Viognier), this had a small dosage and was not disgorged – a tasty and refreshing way to finish up.
In addition to the wines I tasted with Jason, Drew also produces a few other Pinot Noir bottlings. There’s the “Gatekeeper” Pinot – with fruit sourced from Anderson Valley, Yorkville Highlands, and Mendocino Ridge appellations – and single vineyard designates from Morning Dew, Balo, and Fashauer vineyards, as well as a second estate vineyard bottling called “Estate – The Gulch.” The easiest way to taste the Drew wines is to visit their tasting room, located in The Madrones complex right along the highway in Philo – I stopped in there briefly the following day (I had an excellent lunch right next door, at Stone & Embers) and Molly was behind the tasting bar.
So much has changed since my previous visit with Jason and Molly ten years ago. While both of them are still the friendly and generous folks I remember, their kids have now grown up (and we’re all a little older too), and they now have a beautiful vineyard on their property in addition to their animals and apple orchard. I should also note the new label design for their most recent couple of vintages – it features a wonderful drawing of their vineyard, orchard, and winery/home high in the mountains and overlooking the ocean. It’s fanciful to be sure, but it does capture what’s special about their place. The Drew Pinot Noirs all display what’s distinctive about the Anderson Valley and Mendocino Ridge, and the complex and savory Syrahs are among the best cooler-climate California Syrahs you’ll find. Choosing favorites is tough, but the 2015 Valenti Ranch and 2015 “Fog-Eater” Pinot Noirs and the 2015 “The Ornbaun” and 2015 Valenti Ranch Syrahs would be my picks. I can add to those both the 2016 Albariño and the “Sur La Mer” cider – this was an excellent group of wines throughout. The barrel samples I tasted showed that the upcoming 2016 reds promise to be just as good – several samples of the Perli Vineyard and Valenti Ranch Syrahs and the Estate Pinot Noir displayed lots of potential. If you’re in Anderson Valley, don’t miss visiting the Drew tasting room in Philo to try this fine line-up of wines.
Current releases and barrel samples
Drew 2015 Pinot Noir, Valenti Ranch, Anderson Valley. This featured aromas of cherry, spice, mushrooms and tea leaf, along with a touch of vanilla/oak. Bright texture and good structure, with fine tannins, nice.
Drew 2015 Pinot Noir, Joshua’s Vineyard, Anderson Valley. This was showing its youth, a bit tight and reticent aromatically, but opening to show raspberry, earth, and spice, plus some forest floor notes. Juicy acidity with bigger structure and firmer tannins – needs time but good potential.
Drew 2015 Pinot Noir, “The Fog-Eater,” Anderson Valley. Darker fruit profile than the two previous wines, along with a more savory character and notes of mushrooms and earth. Medium-bodied with great mouthfeel, and a stony mineral note on the finish, nice.
Drew 2014 Pinot Noir, “Estate Field Selections,” Mendocino Ridge. Plum and darker berry fruit on the nose, with exotic spices, savory herbal notes, and earth. Firm structure with fine acidity, with moderate tannins and a minerally component on the finish, nice.
Drew 2015 Pinot Noir, “Estate Field Selections,” Mendocino Ridge. This displayed less upfront fruit than the 2014 vintage, but with intense savory, smoky, and floral aromas along with darker fruit, tea leaf, and earth. A bit more structured than the previous wine, with firmer tannins – needs time to develop but shows good potential.
Drew 2015 Syrah, “The Ornbaun,” Mendocino Ridge. Very aromatic, with floral notes plus black olives, spice, and black cherry and darker fruit. Medium weight with a lively mouthfeel and moderate but refined tannins, already delicious and should develop further.
Drew 2015 Syrah, Perli Vineyard, Mendocino Ridge. More upfront fruit than the previous wine, with blackberry, game, iron, earth, and black pepper. Somewhat richer texture with a firm tannic finish – good now but should develop nicely with more time.
Drew 2015 Syrah, Valenti Ranch, Mendocino Ridge. This featured dark berry fruit, flowers, exotic spices, iron, and savory aromas. Big and structured, finishing with chalky tannins – great potential and deserving of time in the cellar.
Drew 2016 Syrah, Perli Vineyard, Mendocino Ridge (barrel sample). 877 clone. Beautiful floral aromatics, with bright red and black fruit, and spice notes, nice structure.
Drew 2016 Syrah, Perli Vineyard, Mendocino Ridge (barrel sample). McDowell selection. More red fruit profile with meaty and savory notes, somewhat lighter texture on the palate.
Drew 2016 Syrah, Perli Vineyard, Mendocino Ridge (barrel sample). McDowell selection, from barrique. More intense aromatics than the previous sample, with floral notes in addition to game and iron, and darker fruit character, with a bigger mouthfeel.
Drew 2016 Syrah, Valenti Ranch, Mendocino Ridge (barrel sample). Clone 1. Brighter fruit aromas, with pepper and black olive notes, nice acidity and texture.
Drew 2016 Syrah, Valenti Ranch, Mendocino Ridge (barrel sample). Chave clone, no SO2. Dark fruit on the nose along with some floral, earthy, and savory notes, with good acidity and a bigger structure than the previous sample.
Drew 2016 Syrah, Valenti Ranch, Mendocino Ridge (barrel sample). Chave clone, with SO2. Similar to the previous sample but with fresher fruit aromas and less of a floral note.
Drew 2016 Syrah, Valenti Ranch, Mendocino Ridge (barrel sample). Chave clone, from Hungarian oak puncheon. More meaty and gamey aromas, iron, earth, and dark berry fruit, with great texture.
Drew 2016 Pinot Noir, Estate, Mendocino Ridge (barrel sample). 828 clone, from new barrel. Plummy fruit with exotic spice, and vanilla/oak, good acidity and mouthfeel.
Drew 2016 Pinot Noir, Estate, Mendocino Ridge (barrel sample). 943 clone. Savory and somewhat stemmy, black cherry fruit, spice, more structure and tannin.
Drew 2016 Pinot Noir, Estate, Mendocino Ridge (barrel sample). 115 clone. More red fruit and spice, along with tea leaf notes, grippier tannins.
Drew 2016 Pinot Noir, Estate, Mendocino Ridge (barrel sample). Pommard clone. The aromatics were more shy and subtle, with red fruit along with some spice and earth, and less tannic grip than the previous two samples.
Drew 2016 Albariño, Valenti Ranch, Anderson Valley. Aromas of citrus, herbs, earth, plus a saline note. Medium-light bodied with zippy acidity and a long, clean finish, nice.
Drew NV “Sur La Mer” Brut Cider, California. Bright and tart apple fruit along with hints of stone fruit, yeast, and a distinct saline quality. Medium-light weight with great acidity and a crisp, dry finish, nice.