Wine & Spirits - Winter 2020 - 30

Top 100 Wineries

Drew

Duckhorn

CALIFORNIA | MENDOCINO RIDGE
A citizen of the Paciﬁc, Jason Drew lives with his far-coast vines,
discovering through them a great place for pinot noir.

CALIFORNIA | NAPA VALLEY
Renée Ary's wines bridge richness and elegance-the taste
marker of Duckhorn's classic Napa Valley reds.

IT HAS TAKEN 20 YEARS FOR Jason and Molly
Drew to grow their own grand cru. Longer, if
you include all the years Jason worked for others, as an itinerant winegrower who settled for
a time in Santa Barbara making pinot noir at
Babcock. After they set out on their own, the
Drews found a vineyard site in the Mendocino
town of Elk, south of the mouth of the Navarro
River, 3.3 miles inland from, and 1,250 feet
above, the ocean. The apple orchard there suggested it might be a good spot for vines and they
chose seven acres to plant with a mix of heritage selections and Dijon clones of pinot noir in
2011. Meanwhile, Drew has built a portfolio of
far-coast vineyard sites, some of which he farms,
sustaining the business with crunchy syrah from
high up into the Mendocino Ridge AVA at Valenti and Perli, Anderson Valley selections of
pinot noir for his Fog Eater bottling, and chardonnay for Bahl Briney.-J.G.

JASON
DREW

RENEE ARY

2017 Mendocino Ridge Estate Field Selections
Pinot Noir ($60, 95 points) This year, the Drews
released the pinot noir from the fourth harvest at
Faîte de Mer Farm, the ﬁrst to show the astonishing
power of their organically farmed home vineyard, and
their prescience in planting it. Offering remarkable
complexity of fruit scent, this is a beautifully layered
wine with energy and density to its rooted tannins,
and a ﬂoral sweetness to its fruit. Like the best of
Drew's wines, this taps into the energy of the wind
and the sun in a marginal climate, delivering it with
harmony and grace.

FOUNDED:

2000
OWNERS:

Jason
& Molly Drew
WINEMAKER/
VITICULTURIST:

Jason Drew

2018 Anderson Valley Wendling Vineyard Pinot
Noir ($70, 95 points) Wendling, a site nearly as marginal as the Drews' home vineyard, is located in the
far northwestern corner of the Anderson Valley, the
deepest end of the appellation before the Navarro
River descends to the Paciﬁc. Here, the Dijon clones
and suitcase selections from Burgundy (purported to
be cut from vines at Romanée-Conti and La Tâche)
create a satin-textured pinot noir with delicate berryscented fruit capturing the woodland richness of a
coastal forest. Perhaps the ambient microbes that
ferment this pinot noir at Drew's winery in Elk are
compatible with those living on the grapes by the
forest at Wendling, cooperating in their work to produce a wine that's clear as a bell and as mysteriously
seductive as the Paciﬁc.

ACRES OWNED:

26
ANNUAL
PRODUCTION:

3,000 cases
ESTATE GROWN:

30%
30

2017 Napa Valley Three Palms Vineyard Merlot
($110, 92 points) Much of Duckhorn's identity is tied
to this vineyard on the west side of the Silverado Trail,
a seam of volcanic rock on the valley ﬂoor between
St. Helena and Calistoga. That rocky soil has proven
to be a great medium for merlot vines, allowing them
to ripen cool fruit in a hot place. This 2017 is luscious, layering high tones of strawberries with darker
depths of black cherries and herbs. (4,678 cases)

FOUNDED:

1976
OWNER:

Duckhorn
Portfolio
WINEMAKER:

WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2021

2016 Napa Valley Three Palms Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ($100, 95 points) Duckhorn
launched this wine when it began leasing the entire
73 acres of Three Palms in 2011. Selected from the
site's ten acres of cabernet sauvignon, it's a ripe, substantial red. The tannins provide a fascinating pushpull of chocolate depths and cool mineral complexity, their freshness amplifying the wine's magnitude,
keeping it buoyant and delicious. (800 cases)

Renée Ary
VITICULTURIST:

Rob Sorenson
ACRES OWNED:

2018 Anderson Valley Morning Dew Ranch Pinot
Noir ($70, 92 points) Burt Williams planted this
12-acre vineyard west of Philo, including a Rochioli
selection and clone 828, fruit that Drew blends into a
bright, inky pinot with cool ﬂavors of strawberries and
red currants, lasting on tight, tannic spice.

DUCKHORN LOYALISTS HAVE BEEN GATHERING
AROUND merlot since the winery's ﬁrst release, a
Three Palms Merlot, in 1978. At the time, Napa
Valley wines were less voluptuously ripe than
they are today, and during his long tenure, winemaker Tom Rinaldi kept a little structural austerity in his reds. When Renée Ary joined the Duckhorn team in 2002 as lab manager, most of the
Napa Valley's vineyard land had been replanted
due to phylloxera, and winemakers found themselves chasing phenolic ripeness with young
vines, polishing unruly tannins into the heft of
sweet fruit. Ary soon joined the stylistic debates
among the winemaking team at Duckhorn,
becoming assistant winemaker in 2008 and
taking charge in 2014. As winemaker, Ary has
worked to deepen the expression of the winery's
individual vineyards through her recognition
of the distinctive tannins she tasted in the fruit
from each site. By managing those tannins, pulling back on how much she pressed the grapes
and pumped over the juice, she pointed up the
personality of each vineyard-characteristics
that not only stand out in a blind tasting, but
also provide a sense of familiarity to long-time
Duckhorn fans. -J.G.

227
ANNUAL
PRODUCTION:

100,000 cases
ESTATE GROWN:

25%

2016 Napa Valley The Discussion ($155, 94
points) Selected from Duckhorn's top parcels, this
is 55 percent cabernet sauvignon blended with
small-berried merlot from Block 5, the rockiest part
of Three Palms. It's a powerful red, the fruit both
peachy-ripe and savory, melding with bitter-chocolate
tannins. All the elements point in an upward trajectory, a path they should follow with extended bottle
age. (2,500 cases)

Wine & Spirits - Winter 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2020