Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022 - 27

Top 100 Wineries
WASHINGTON | COLUMBIA VALLEY
DeLille
At a house devoted to Rhône- and Bordeaux-inspired wines, this year,
their thirtieth, was a boom year for cabernet sauvignon.
JaSON GORSKI
Jay soloff and Chris UpChUrCh Met in the
eighties with backgrounds in wine-selling
and winemaking, respectively; together with
the Lill Family they launched their winery
in 1992. Applying the Lills' original French
spelling, DeLille allied itself to France,
inspired by the great growths of Bordeaux.
They consulted early on with David Lake,
MW, who made introductions at promising
vineyard sites, including Snipes Mountain,
Sagemoor, Ciel du Cheval and Red
Willow, vineyards the winery draws from to
this day. That fruit is now supplemented by
two estate parcels on Red Mountain, Grand
Ciel and Upchurch, giving winemaker Jason
Gorski one of the more enviable palettes for
fruit in the state. All of it falls under a harvest
dictum that Upchurch established after
many vintages and many visits to Bordeaux:
pick fruit " when it's no longer underripe. "
The wines convey power, structure and
delineation, a testament to Upchurch's dictum
and Gorski's craft. -P.J.C.
2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Red Mountain
Grand Ciel ($160, 94 points) The focus Gorski
and Upchurch place on tannin management
at their estate vineyards pays off as DeLille's
top wines mature with bottle age. This 2016
is a deep violet color with darker inky shades
on the rim, smelling of violets and plums. The
flavors are rich and extracted and the texture,
while massive, is suede-like, its weight evenly
distributed, with a dustiness that hints at further
potential to age.
FOUNDED:
1992
WINEMAKER/
VITICULTURIST:
Jason Gorski
OWNERS:
Chris Upchurch, Jay
Soloff, Greg Lill, Pat Lill
Jorgenson, Bacchus
Capital Management
ACRES OWNED:
15.21; plus
61 farmed
ANNUAL PRODUCTION:
32,000 cases
ESTATE GROWN:
8%
FARMING PRACTICES:
Sustainable, pending
certification by Sustainable
Washington
2018 Snipes Mountain Harrison Hill Red
Blend ($160, 93 points) In 1994, David Lake
urged Upchurch to lock up a lease at this site,
with cabernet vines going back to 1962-the second-oldest
in the state-set on a gravelly northfacing
slope in what is now the Snipes Mountain
AVA. This 2018 blend is about two-thirds cabernet,
the balance merlot and cabernet franc:
Light in color and slightly floral at the outset, the
wine fills out with air, adding violet scents and a
core of dark berry fruit. The texture is succulent
and mildly grainy, satisfying, mouth filling.
2018 Yakima Valley Red Willow Red Blend
($75, 93 points) Jason Gorski focused this vintage
on Red Willow's cabernet franc, with merlot
and cabernet sauvignon taking up a little over
40 percent of the blend. It's a good move for a
site as cool as this, keeping the wine bright and
peppery without being at all green. There's a
tarry plum-and-cassis core, woodsy and intense.
CALIFORNIA | MENDOCINO COUNTY
Drew
Exuberant syrah and complex pinot noir from the coastal ridges
of Mendocino.
JaSON DREW
Jason and Molly drew grow pinot noir
and chardonnay at their Faîte de Mer farm
in Elk. It's a true bootstrap operation: The
Drews camped out in an Airstream amidst
the apple trees while building their winery
and home. They started to plant vines
in 2011 while Jason continued to work
with local vineyards that suit his goals of a
cool, slow ripening. Two of those vineyards
include plantings of syrah high up in the
Mendocino Ridge AVA. " Both the Valenti
and Perli sites are a result of tectonic plates
colliding, " he says, describing the uplift of
the ocean crust as " fractured or decomposed
sandstone and shale, with an abundance of
Radiolaria fossils-from the ocean bed 30
million years ago. " A third tectonic plate has
pushed down from the north, leaving large
openings in the hills where cold ocean winds
rush in, slowing the respiration of acidity
and moderating flavor development in the
grapes. He knows these ridges intimately,
having farmed Valenti and worked with Perli
to produce some of the most compelling syrahs
in the New World. -J.G.
2018 Mendocino Ridge Perli Vineyard Syrah
($55, 96 points) Drew makes this wine mostly
from a block planted in 1998 to a selection from
McDowell Valley vines dating to 1901; it's interplanted
with about three percent viognier. Layering
the cold Pacific winds into the grape skins,
this 2018 vibrates with energy, as if the fruit is
vocalized directly out of the acidity, a cool crush
of forest berries with scents of conifer and forest
mushrooms. As its drinking window approaches,
this wine has begun to calm into subtle nuance.
FOUNDED:
2000
WINEMAKER/
VITICULTURIST:
Jason Drew
OWNERS:
Jason and Molly Drew
ACRES OWNED:
26; 16 planted
ANNUAL PRODUCTION:
3,500 cases
ESTATE GROWN:
40%
FARMING PRACTICES:
Organic, certified
by OneCert (2004);
Regenerative
2019 Mendocino Ridge Valenti Ranch Syrah
($55, 94 points) In 2019, Valenti is focused on
vines from a Chave selection. An early harvest
makes this an especially bright syrah, a little
puppy-dog-like in its exuberant energy, its acidity
making the wine sparkle on the tongue. Three
days later, it has the crunch of a bursting red
cherry, the savor of a chanterelle and the fresh
oceanic scent of the Pacific.
2019 Mendocino Ridge Estate Mid-Slope
Pinot Noir ($120, 94 points) The Drews' certified-organic
estate vineyard is three miles inland
from, and 1,250 feet above the Pacific, where a
field mix of heritage clones produced this complex
2019. The young vines invest it with power-
not in terms of alcohol, but in the impact of its
dark-fruited beauty, layered with earthy details of
forest floor, thyme and wood smoke.
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WINE & SPIR IT S
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Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022

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