Drew Family Cellars, Mendocino Ridge “The Field Blend” GSM
Drew Family Cellars, Mendocino Ridge “The Field Blend” GSM

Drew Family Cellars, Mendocino Ridge “The Field Blend” GSM

California / Anderson Valley, United States 2018 (750mL)
Regular price$34.00
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Drew Family Cellars, Mendocino Ridge “The Field Blend” GSM

Few producers outside of the Northern Rhône are capable of capturing the most authentic and alluring expression of Syrah—one of these rare artisans is Drew Family Cellars in Mendocino. Although not yet a household name, I consider Jason Drew one of the most gifted winemakers in California: He has consistently proven to be a reliable blue-chip source for some of the finest and most site-transparent wines from the high-elevation, coastal-influenced Mendocino Ridge. Each wine I’ve tasted pushes the limits of precision, detail, and finesse but his Syrahs always seem to steal the show. 


Because I’ve been so enthralled with them, I recently took a weekend road trip through the North Coast and stopped by Drews’ forested oasis. After touring and uncorking a large number of bottles, I couldn’t stop talking about today’s Rhône-inspired red. This 2018 “Field Blend” may say “GSM” (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre), but it’s mostly Syrah—supposedly from Chave cuttings!—which is yet another reason why I couldn’t stop drinking it. This truly is a total knockout, that rare combination of head-spinning complexity and where’d-the-bottle-go drinkability, with a price that’s accessible to all! 


By the time Jason started Drew Family Wines in 2000, he had already racked up a stellar resumé, with stints at legendary Napa estates like Joseph Phelps and Corison. In his years of experience at a multitude of northern and central California benchmarks, though, he found that nuance and refreshment were often overlooked in favor of power and ripeness. He and Molly established Drew Family Wines to change that, focusing on cooler sites and more hands-off winemaking. They were ahead of the curve: a decade later, the push for lower-alcohol, higher-energy California wines would become a full-blown revolution. Now the market is flooded with producers working in this vein, but Drew remains at the absolute top of the game.


Part of that success can be attributed to location. The Drews set up shop in the Mendocino Ridge, which is perched at 1200+ feet above sea level despite being less than 10 miles from the Pacific Ocean. The “Field Blend” is sourced from two of the most extreme sites in the appellation, Perli and Valenti Ranch. Perli sits at a shocking 2,400 feet above sea level, on steep, east-facing slopes. Valenti, also east-facing, is bathed in cooling winds thanks to its proximity to the Pacific, less than six miles away. When they settled in Mendocino, Perli and Valenti were two of the first sites Jason wanted to work with, thanks to soils originating from the Ocean floor of sandstone-gravel with high iron content and quartzite. Individually, these are the sources for Drews’ most celebrated Northern Rhône-esque Syrahs. 


In 2017, Jason grafted on new Syrah clones at Valenti, selected from the vineyards of perhaps the greatest living Syrah producer, the legendary Jean-Louis Chave in Hermitage. Alongside the Chave selection, Jason grafted a small portion of Grenache and Mourvedre—varieties long thought unable to ripen in Mendo’s cool climate—to bring higher-toned red fruit and elevated acidity. The final makeup of today’s blend is 90% Syrah, 6% Viognier (interplanted with the Syrah at both sites, a la Côte-Rôtie), 2% Grenache, and 2% Mourvedre, all picked at once, co-fermented with 90% whole cluster and aged for 15 months in neutral French oak. 


In the glass, it reveals a classic dark purple moving out to a slightly pink rim. The nose soars with dark-fruited beauty, showing black cherries, cassis, and purple plums alongside menthol and leather. The palate is medium-plus in body, fleshy and seductive, with a bold and inviting texture that snaps together in the finish thanks to high-elevation acidity. The supporting varieties here, especially the Viognier, serve to accentuate and amplify the deep core of Syrah character, leading to a blend that’s just firing on all cylinders right now. Some wines make you think, some wines just make you want to take another sip, but rarely do they do both as well as today’s 2018 “Field Blend.” Decant it for an hour, and enjoy out of Bordeaux glasses at 60-65 degrees. Thanks to the complexity and tension here, I’m inclined to recommend drinking alongside something refined like herb-crusted lamb chops and Lyonnaise potatoes, but this is also right at home next to a charcoal-grilled burger. As perfect for a night in with your spouse as it is an evening around a fire with friends. Cheers!

Drew Family Cellars, Mendocino Ridge “The Field Blend” GSM
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United States

Washington

Columbia Valley

Like many Washington wines, the “Columbia Valley” indication only tells part of the story: Columbia Valley covers a huge swath of Central
Washington, within which are a wide array of smaller AVAs (appellations).

Oregon

Willamette Valley

Oregon’s Willamette Valley has become an elite winegrowing zone in record time. Pioneering vintner David Lett, of The Eyrie Vineyard, planted the first Pinot Noir in the region in 1965, soon to be followed by a cadre of forward-thinking growers who (correctly) saw their wines as America’s answer to French
Burgundies. Today, the Willamette
Valley is indeed compared favorably to Burgundy, Pinot Noir’s spiritual home. And while Pinot Noir accounts for 64% of Oregon’s vineyard plantings, there are cool-climate whites that must not be missed.

California

Santa Barbara

Among the unique features of Santa Barbara County appellations like Ballard Canyon (a sub-zone of the Santa Ynez Valley AVA), is that it has a cool, Pacific-influenced climate juxtaposed with the intense luminosity of a southerly
latitude (the 34th parallel). Ballard Canyon has a more north-south orientation compared to most Santa Barbara AVAs, with soils of sandy
clay/loam and limestone.

California

Paso Robles

Situated at an elevation of 1,600 feet, it is rooted in soils of sandy loam and falls within the Highlands District of the Paso Robles AVA.

New York

North Fork

Wine growers and producers on Long Island’s North Fork have traditionally compared their terroir to that of Bordeaux and have focused on French varieties such as Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

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