The Story
Jason and Molly Drew started making Drew wines in 2000 with a clear objective: to craft small lot, cool climate wines that express site distinction and traditional varietal character.
In the beginning they made their wines in an industrial warehouse space on the Central Coast, crafting tiny amounts of Pinot Noir and Syrah and selling directly to restaurants and Mailing List customers. They would eventually outgrow their warehouse space, and the dream of finding a coastal property to build a small winery had always been there. While the very beginnings of winemaker Jason Drew's wine industry career started many years before, having worked in the industry in both a vineyard management capacity as well as a winemaker for the past 35 years. He brought a vast background to their pursuit of their next chapter.
The search brought them back to Northern California to the Mendocino Coast Ridge area, west of the Anderson Valley AVA. An area they had spent a season in while Jason managed a nearby vineyard back in 1996, the year before he went back to graduate school for his Oenology degree. The coastal ridges, in what is now called the Mendocino Ridge AVA, were distinctive in their weather patterns, ancient sea bed soil origins, and the east-west orientation of the ridges facing the Pacific Ocean, which created gaps that face directly west. These openings funnel the cool winds off the coast and fog, keeping temperatures cooler during the summer and fall months.
On the far northwestern tip of the Greenwood Ridge, they found a forlorn-looking 26-acre apple orchard on a south slope at 1200 to 1250 feet elevation. It was a property they had admired while driving by some years before. It didn't take long for them to jump at the opportunity. They sold their home and went all in and purchased the property in 2004. They proceeded to spend the next year designing the winery building and were able to break ground in June of 2005 and complete their first crush in the estate winery in the fall of 2005. After taking a bit of time to recover from construction costs, they began planning the vineyard layout.
The 10.5 acre estate vineyard was planted to California heritage and suitcase selections and several Dijon clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, a half acre of Chenin Blanc, an acre of Gamay, and two-thirds of an acre of Syrah (four clones) were added later, along with a small truffle orchard to accompany the remaining 10-acre apple orchard. The Drew Ranch is certified organic and regenerative in practices and has also been home to the Drew Family for the past 21 years. It is also the most westward vineyard in Mendocino County and currently the only estate winery in the Mendocino Ridge AVA, aka the Mendocino Coast Ridge. Vintage 2024 marks the 25th vintage for Drew! Stay tuned on that front.