Thanks! 
Here’s MORE STUFF.
http://www.andrewmurrayvineyards.com/wp-content/themes/andrewmurray/images/amvlogo_289x80.png
Andrew Murray Vineyards is a family-owned winery located in Los Olivos, California. Nestled in the Santa Ynez Valley AVA of Santa Barbara County, it specializes in Rhône varieties Syrah, Grenache, Roussanne, Marsanne, and Grenache Blanc.
This one was hard fought. Thanks Andrew (and Neil)!
Very glad to have Andrew Murray back on woot.
Both the red and the white Eleven blends look interesting and well priced. I think I might be in on one of each.
The red Eleven comes off as pretty sweet for my palate. Not a fan. The Syrahs are all good, if a bit overpriced at winery prices.
[QUOTE=kylemittskus, post:5, topic:355914]
The red Eleven comes off as pretty sweet for my palate. Not a fan. The Syrahs are all good, if a bit overpriced at winery prices.
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Did you get a chance to taste the White Eleven?
[QUOTE=kylemittskus, post:5, topic:355914]
The red Eleven comes off as pretty sweet for my palate.
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That makes me more interested.
Hopefully Andrew chimes in and can give some more stats on the Red Blend; RS, PH, barrel treatment, drinking window, etc.
I am very intrigued by that one, though I am really trying to stop buying for the foreseeable future.
And thank you for having me back…it has been far too long…the powers that be at WOOT! have been staying in touch, but we have simply not had enough wine for a traditional WOOT! offering…these new, “boutiques” are really great, at least from my perspective… Really glad to be here with you all…
Andrew
[QUOTE=Winedavid39, post:3, topic:355914]
This one was hard fought. Thanks Andrew (and Neil)!
Very glad to have Andrew Murray back on woot.
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…an Andrew Murray Syrah opened my eyes to the beauty of California-grown Rhone varietals many moons ago… Very happy to see Mr. Murray on Woot again.
[QUOTE=redwinefan, post:6, topic:355914]
Did you get a chance to taste the White Eleven?
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Nope. Wish I did, though. It wasn’t being poured.
I sincerely hope that you take a chance…the Unplugged is wonderfully crisp, dry, and light from the dominance of the old Chenin Blanc vines (planted originally by the Firestone Family when they were first starting the winery…decades ago) (only 12.5% alc for this portion of the wine). The SB adds a bit the nose…a more tropical SB edge because it comes from the Musque clone from the Great Oaks Vineyard in SYV. We lastly add the “glue” of the blend…River Bench Chardonnay from Santa Maria…un-oaked, crisp, yet smooth on the finish. We inhibited ML…so this wine is definitely UN-CALIFORNICATED!
The Red is dominated by Cab and Cab Franc…definitely speaks of a big, ripe fruit/spice driven Cab because of the smaller additions of Sangiovese and Tempranillo…and a bit o’ Cow Bell…Grenache. While the blend is like no other, I did carefully blend these wines…all fermented and French Oak aged for 2 years…about 20% new FO. I looked for inspiration in the sun drenched hills of seaside Spain and also from the Tuscan countryside…really no inspiration from Bordeaux at all in this wine. Cabs are from Great Oaks Vineyard…steep hillside, low yielding fruit…Temp and Sangio from Oak Savanna Vineyard…and the tiny bit of Grenache is from West Paso…from Terra Bella Vineyard.
I am infinitely proud of these wines. I am also proud to offer these as one of my first forays outside my comfort zone of Rhone varieties…been Rhone only for 21+ years…
Hope you all give them a shot…we definitely tried to price them very fairly. These are all contracted grapes, carefully fermented and blended at AMV…not some sleazy bulk wine deal…
Cheers
Andrew
I am wondering if the Red comments come from the 2006 vintage? We have just released the 2009 vintage to our tasting room only about a couple of months ago…I have never heard anyone say that the 2009 tastes sweet…the RS was tested at bottling as having less than 0.01%…looking right at the final analysis before bottling, the pH is 3.75 and the TA is 6.0 g/L…and the alc is 14.95. Perhaps a perceived sweetness from the riper flavors? I am never one to say that someone else is wrong in what they taste…so I am just here to provide the chemical analysis (BTW, I have tasted MANY wines that I swore were sweet…I kept some wine and sent it to a lab, only to learn that it was dry…sweetness can be confounding for sure!)…
[QUOTE=North316, post:7, topic:355914]
That makes me more interested.
Hopefully Andrew chimes in and can give some more stats on the Red Blend; RS, PH, barrel treatment, drinking window, etc.
I am very intrigued by that one, though I am really trying to stop buying for the foreseeable future.
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Andrew: it was the 2006. Sorry for the confusion.
[QUOTE=AndrewMurray, post:12, topic:355914]
I am wondering if the Red comments come from the 2006 vintage? We have just released the 2009 vintage to our tasting room only about a couple of months ago…I have never heard anyone say that the 2009 tastes sweet…the RS was tested at bottling as having less than 0.01%…looking right at the final analysis before bottling, the pH is 3.75 and the TA is 6.0 g/L…and the alc is 14.95. Perhaps a perceived sweetness from the riper flavors? I am never one to say that someone else is wrong in what they taste…so I am just here to provide the chemical analysis (BTW, I have tasted MANY wines that I swore were sweet…I kept some wine and sent it to a lab, only to learn that it was dry…sweetness can be confounding for sure!)…
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I saw the 14.5% and had to scroll back up to see if this was Paso juice, and it looks like only the Grenache was. Does the high alcohol in this case just come from the ripeness of the fruit and the fact that you fermented it to dry?
Also, what is the proportions of the varietals in the red blend (and the white for that matter), I don’t see either listed anywhere?
And what would you suggest as the drinking window?
[QUOTE=AndrewMurray, post:11, topic:355914]
I sincerely hope that you take a chance…the Unplugged is wonderfully crisp, dry, and light from the dominance of the old Chenin Blanc vines (planted originally by the Firestone Family when they were first starting the winery…decades ago) (only 12.5% alc for this portion of the wine). The SB adds a bit the nose…a more tropical SB edge because it comes from the Musque clone from the Great Oaks Vineyard in SYV. We lastly add the “glue” of the blend…River Bench Chardonnay from Santa Maria…un-oaked, crisp, yet smooth on the finish. We inhibited ML…so this wine is definitely UN-CALIFORNICATED!
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I see crisp, crisp and more crisp here. Is there any minerality coming through on this blend, floral, buttery-ness?
[QUOTE=North316, post:15, topic:355914]
I see crisp, crisp and more crisp here. Is there any minerality coming through on this blend, floral, buttery-ness?
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No butter because of the no MLF. I can’t answer the other questions, though.
Not sure if I should give away the secret on this thread since I’m contemplating buying one, but in his vinter’s voicemail, Andrew says there are only 5 Syrah Magnums allocated to Woot!
Ended up going in on Red Eleven, White Eleven, and the Watch Hill Syrah Magnum. Just realized I’ve got a vertical of the Watch Hill in my wine locker 2006-2008, so adding in the 2010 could make for an interesting wine tasting night in the future.
Oh, yes, and I got an order of wine ice bags too. Thanks Woot!
Thanks for chiming in today…
I get a bit defensive when folks accuse our wines of being “over priced”…I work so darn hard to grow and craft and bottle wonderful, distinctive and unique Syrah bottlings (heck all of our varieties). We have been consistently perfecting our craft and garnering great critical success for over 20 years. More important that critics…we have developed a wonderful and interactive fan base through the years. As our scores have gone up, I have actually lowered our prices…now, who is crazy enough to do that (I dropped our Esperance $5/bottle and our Watch Hill Syrah by $6/bottle with the most recent vintages)? If I was bottling Pinot Noir from Sonoma or SRH or Cab from Napa, I would have to double or triple our prices to match wines with equivalent critical scores. You never hear me brag about our scores…but we have been on a bit of a roll lately! Take this quote from the Rhone Ranger edition of the Wine Advocate about our wines…“This set of wines from Andrew Murray is remarkable for its breadth of quality and sheer value.” I was more proud of that quote than any score Grapes prices have been going up 20-25% per year lately because of the very short vintages and as a result, we have been stuck crafting and bottling less lately. Our wines (thankfully and even luckily have been selling at a pace that we can barely keep up with. We hand sort and open top ferment in small lots all of our red wines. We then barrel age our reds for a minimum of 18 months (sometimes 24 if needed) in an average of about 20-25% new French Oak for single vineyard Syrah bottlings. Our wines get the royal treatment…no additives, no oak chips…all natural. I am rambling like crazy…sorry. I totally understand that you are entitled to your opinion about the prices of our wines, I just wanted you to know more about our wines and our prices. The average price of all our wines have gone down since we started…this is true because my accountant bugs me all the time. Crazy for me to see it written, but I would argue that our wines are tremendous values. They may still seem expensive to many (most) people, but I am hear to shout from the rooftops that we charge the bare-minimum for our wines so that we can have legions of fans, reach more peeps, and still stay in business. Thanks for allowing me the forum to discuss our pricing…
Cheers
Andrew
[QUOTE=kylemittskus, post:5, topic:355914]
The red Eleven comes off as pretty sweet for my palate. Not a fan. The Syrahs are all good, if a bit overpriced at winery prices.
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Right on…thanks so VERY much. We only “saved” 6 Watch Hill magnums for the wooters…so I am glad that you got in on one. BTW, the 2010 is a bit more like the 2008…cool vintage, lower alcohol (only 14.1%), impossibly dark, yet balanced and nervy…I have been out on the road quite a bit and it seems that all kinds of folks appreciate the Watch Hill…I feel like a proud father when I pour this wine…
Andrew
[QUOTE=redwinefan, post:18, topic:355914]
Ended up going in on Red Eleven, White Eleven, and the Watch Hill Syrah Magnum. Just realized I’ve got a vertical of the Watch Hill in my wine locker 2006-2008, so adding in the 2010 could make for an interesting wine tasting night in the future.
Oh, yes, and I got an order of wine ice bags too. Thanks Woot!
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