Andrew Murray Vineyards
This is a very personal project for me. I feel like these wines have been works-in-progress for a decade or more, only finally jumping from my imagination and into the bottle just this year. These new releases rank amongst the smallest production wines that I have ever released. They are all Estate Grown and crafted with the utmost care and precision. They truly represent the best that we can do here, on the Curtis Estate in the heart of Los Olivos and at the Gravel Pit Estate in Santa Maria. No expense was spared in the farming or the crafting of these stunning wines. In the vineyard, we cherry-picked the best blocks, restricted yields, and used every trick up our sleeves with the singular goal of harvesting the very best fruit that we can grow. In the winery, we took our winemaking efforts to the next level…we took it to 11. We double sorted the grapes to ensure only the best looking berries made it into our fermenters. We aged the wines exclusively in French Oak for 18 months to ensure immense pleasure upon release. The wines are rich and decadent, yet remarkably balanced, pure, and varietally correct. They speak softly of their variety and their origins. They shout, “Drink Me!” Our opening playlist consists of 2014 “Unplugged” Sauvignon Blanc, 2013 Pinot Noir, 2013 Cabernet Franc, 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2013 Petit Verdot. These wines exemplify the Natural, Locavore and Farm-To-Bottle movements. They are grown in Los Olivos, Hand-Crafted in Los Olivos, and sold in Los Olivos by a family that has been here for over 25 years.
Philosophy
Most children dream of becoming something exciting when they grow up: a firefighter, an actress, a sports star, a princess, or an astronaut. I was no different. My dream was to be a rock star. Undeterred by the fact that I possessed no musical talent whatsoever, I bellowed into my spoon microphone, played a wicked tennis racquet air-guitar, and sported some sweet 80’s hair. My buddies and I wiled away countless hours listening to our favorite albums and debating the merits of Led Zeppelin, The Doors, and Kiss. We knew all the lyrics, repeatedly watched all the ‘rockumentaries’, and were MTV addicts. As time rolled by, my rock star dreams waned and my attentions turned to the conventional aspects of adolescence: girls, grades, and irritating my parents. My rock-and-roll passion was temporarily reignited by the cultish and devilishly funny rockumentary “This is Spinal Tap”, which I first saw in 1988 as a sophomore in high school. With that one perfect scene, all things that were awesome became an ‘11’; just one better than a ‘10’. By the time I was a senior, I had traveled extensively in France to help my family glean as much knowledge as we could about the craft of winemaking. We were pulling the cord and parachuting out of Los Angeles to the foothills of sunny Santa Barbara. Together we founded our family winery and vineyard. My passion for winemaking was born, but the steady beat of rock-and-roll still drummed in my being. I’ve spent 25 years making Rhône-style wines. With each vintage, I work relentlessly to divine the slightest nuances out of my favorite varieties. With This is E11even Wines, I break into new direction and explore the best of the other varieties that we grow here in Los Olivos.
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