Drew "Valenti" Mendocino Ridge Syrah 2021

Wine & Spirits : 98 Points

(3/2024) As a wine drinker, certain combinations of people and places create indelible memories—sometimes it’s the people who opened a bottle with me, sometimes a grower in a vineyard. There are some places in California that hold this power, shared by the grower who devotes a lifetime trying to understand them. One of those places is Valenti, visited with Jason Drew years back when he was farming it. Readers of this magazine may know that I can’t be objective about this vineyard, a ridgetop facing east, lending its syrah vines a veil of protection from the cold Pacific winds. For me, it is one of the most recognizable and beautiful red wines in North America. Drew, having studied in Australia and worked for years on California’s Central Coast, settled on the far north coast with his wife, Molly, where they made wine from Valenti, and Perli a few miles inland, and where they planted their own vines closer to the Pacific. I call your attention to this 2021 as an idealized expression of this site: Open and racy, the brassy riffs on foresty granite and moss create a funky drama, pretty and pretty lovely. The tannins bunch up in the end, showing the wine’s youth, then the fruit lengthens out in a deep stretch of red currants, brambly boysenberries and spiky-rock acidity. It’s a different wine the second day, opening to that moss dampened by salt spray, pine needles in the forest floor, umeboshi vinegar—a wine for an izakaya feast. Drew’s talents show in the way his 2021 Valenti and Perli keep racing ahead of each other. On the second day, Perli pulls ahead, then on the third day, Valenti is the longer, more complex wine. (125 cases).

Vinous - Antonio Galloni : 95 Points

(1/2024) The 2021 Syrah Valenti Ranch is one of the finest wines I have tasted from Jason Drew. In this superb vintage, it impresses with significant depth and pedigree. All of the elements of this site are present, yet no single component stands out. Dark-fleshed fruit, gravel, incense, dried herbs and lavender open with some coaxing. This is another wine that fully captures all the beauty of the Mendocino Ridge. Drinking Window: 2025 - 2034.