From Valleys to Peaks, Mendocino Crafts a Premium Pastiche

From the floor of the Anderson Valley in western Mendocino County, California, it’s a 30-minute winding climb up the North Coast Ranges to Mendocino Ridge, a noncontiguous AVA often referred to as “islands in the sky.”

There, we met Molly and Jason Drew of Drew Wines at their estate, just three miles from the Pacific Ocean and set at an elevation of up about 1,250 feet (380 meters). Navigating it on a sunny afternoon in mid-September, you can feel the temperature cooling as the redwood forest closes in.

It was that cool setting that contributed to the long, moderate growing season of 2023. “We were just able to wait and wait and the fruit was perfect,” Jason Drew said of the year, which produced the Drew Chardonnay Mendocino Ridge Radiolaria 2023 and Drew Pinot Noir Mendocino Ridge Radiolaria Estate 2023, two outstanding estate wines that show an incredible range of aromatics, freshness and concentration.

This report includes 275 wines, many of which we tasted at Scharffenberger Cellars, with the coordination of the Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association, during our visit to Mendocino last month. The tastings primarily focused on the 2023 vintage, although a smattering of 2024 early releases are showing great potential and the 2025 vintage seems to be shaping up to be another great year as well. Chardonnay and pinot noir from coastal Mendocino, including  the renowned Anderson Valley, dominate the report.

Some of the top-scoring wineries from the Anderson Valley include well-known names like Littorai, Donum, Williams Selyem and Maggy Hawk, but some new and lesser-known wineries are worth checking out as well, like Brashley, Weatherborne, Lussier, Wentworth and Brick & Mortar.

While chardonnay and pinot noir are certainly the stars, a couple sauvignon blancs are standouts as well and present good value. The Read Holland Sauvignon Blanc Anderson Valley Upton Vineyard  2023 is bright and exuberant with a round, plush mouthfeel, while the Baxter Sauvignon Blanc Anderson Valley Ferrington Vineyard 2024 is a more subtle expression with notes of mint, basil and chalky minerality.

From syrah, the Minus Tide Syrah Mendocino Ridge Valenti Vineyard 2023 is a wonderfully aromatic and substantial wine you can’t stop smelling. Chenin blancs from Pax, Minus Tide and Lang & Reed are all delicious. Stephane Vivier’s inaugural release of the Vivier Riesling Anderson Valley The Other Ranch 2024 shows a compelling range of floral, woodsy and coastal aromas and is a pleasure to drink.

What made the 2023 vintage so remarkable in Anderson Valley is what Ted Lemon of Littorai refers to as a pristine, long, growing season. Lemon, who has been making wine in Anderson Valley since 1993, told Executive Editor Jim Gordon that 2023 was one of the latest harvests ever, reminding him of 1998 and 1999, with “consistently fine, warm weather” during the growing season.

Lemon battled botrytis on the Sonoma Coast due to some late season rain, but the Anderson Valley fruit was “gloriously clean,” he said. The Littorai Pinot Noir Mendocino Anderson Valley Wendling Vineyard Block E 2023 comes from the most northwesterly vineyard in the AVA, making it also the coolest site in the Valley. Distinctive and vital, it packs enormous black-fruit and savory flavors on a luscious and firm texture.

Another standout from this vineyard is the Texture Pinot Noir Anderson Valley Wendling Vineyard 2023, which is scrumptious, silky and aromatic with velvety tannins.

Pinot noir accounts for nearly 70 percent of vineyard planting in the Anderson Valley, but the chardonnay from certain sites can be stunning, especially in years like 2023. Quantity-wise, most chardonnay in the Valley goes into sparkling wine – about two-thirds, according to Zak Robinson of Husch Vineyards, whose family planted one of the first Anderson Valley chardonnay vineyards in 1968.

Ferrington Vineyard, at the southeastern and relatively warmer end of the valley, is one of the exceptions. With just under a quarter of the vineyard, or 17 acres, planted to chardonnay, it provides the fruit for some of the best chardonnays we tasted for this report. Among the top scoring are the Brick & Mortar Chardonnay Anderson Valley Ferrington Vineyard 2022, Meyer Family Cellars Chardonnay Anderson Valley Ferrington Vineyard 2024 and Ottavino Chardonnay Anderson Valley Ferrington Vineyard 2024.

Heading eastward out of the Anderson Valley, the landscape changes dramatically – and quickly. The coastal redwoods give way to the rugged, sun-drenched rolling hillsides of inland Mendocino, where Sebastian Donoso has been making wine for more than 15 years. As the senior winemaker for Bonterra, Donoso is deeply committed to showcasing the quality and value of the wines from Mendocino and believes the key to the region’s potential is farming organically and regeneratively.

In spite of temperatures often pushing 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the region, the cabernet sauvignon vines are healthy and vibrant, and the fruit perfectly balanced.  This can be seen in The McNab by Bonterra Cabernet Sauvignon Mendocino County McNab Ranch Vineyard 2021, which shows a complex array of aromas and a lifted palate even while being deep and concentrated.

Early next year, Bonerra will launch their budget-friendly Mendo label (with wines priced under $20), bearing the “U.S. Farmed” certification of the American Farmland Trust – a first for the wine industry. “We hope that this will help people who don’t know a lot about wine or appellations or certifications to connect with wine as an American agricultural product,” Donoso said. Their first wine to launch from the label, the Mendo by Bonterra Pinot Noir Mendocino County 2023, is fresh, juicy and structured with a bit of earthy complexity – and certainly gives bang for the buck.

A lesser-known Mendocino region that attracted attention for this report is Cole Ranch, a single-vineyard appellation located at 1,200 feet in the mountains midway between Anderson Valley and the inland city of Ukiah. Most famous for its riesling, which was planted in the 1970s, the vineyard is now producing a range Alpine varieties with racy acidity and broad texture at remarkably low alcohol levels.

“I stood there, and I just felt like I was in a miniature version of the Alps,” said Mike Lucia of Rootdown Wines, who purchased the property in 2019. Inspired by a love of wines from the French wine regions of Savoie and Jura, Lucia has been grafting some of the lesser-performing or diseased blocks and improving farming practices with the help of renowned and beloved Mendocino farmer Peter Chevalier.

The Rootdown Savagnin Mendocino County Cole Ranch 2023 and Rootdown Jaquere Mendocino County Cole Ranch 2023 are remarkable for their fresh, linear acidity and power, even at under 12 percent alcohol. Lucia only makes about 40 percent of the fruit under his own label, so there is plenty more to explore from this special place.

Readers who want to dig into Mendocino wines have a huge array to try. The 2023 vintage shows the structure and finesse that makes for ageworthy and collectible wines at the high end and fresh, drinkable, everyday wines as well. From the few 2024 wines in this report and how the 2025 harvest is shaping up, it seems that trend is continuing, making this a great time to explore the wines from this region.

– Courtney Humiston, Staff Writer & Taster

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated by the JamesSuckling.com tasting team. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. 

Note: You can sort the wines below by country, vintage, score and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.