deep ruby garnet dark color
initial brunt rubber like she’s leaving me in the dust
JD liked this, so I thought I’d chase it down
sexxy beast ready to rumble now
toasty bacon, roasted pepper, just on your face
all in now but could mature and be more loving later
all good, +1 with JD 
cheers
Gray,
Great to see someone mentioning Andrew Murray on this board. He has been a great friend and mentor to me since moving to the area 13 years ago, and he continues to craft wonderful wines, both under his eponymous label and his fun Eleven label as well. He does not follow ‘trends’ whatsoever, but instead makes wines that he enjoys consuming, which tend to be a bit ‘bigger and bolder’.
I know this vineyard well, having begun working with it in 2006. It sits just south of the city of Los Alamos, very close to Thompson Vineyard and a stone’s throw away from one of Manfred’s vineyards. It’s got very sandy soil and a nice southern exposure on a somewhat steep hillside. It’s considered a ‘cooler’ site since it gets the advantage of the Santa Maria Valley cooler mornings and evenings, but certainly gets warm in the afternoons.
This wine most likely has a decade or more of life ahead of it - and I can’t wait to see how it develops . . .
Cheers!
I was a fan in the early 2000s. Believe it or not, at the early Hospice du Rhones (1998-2000 or so), Andrew’s table was just as mobbed as Alban’s. Then he produced some wines that were pretty flawed and moved out of his winery. Now he’s in the old Curtis facility on ? (name escapes me) Canyon Rd. They did a nice remodel on the tasting room. I stopped a year ago and thought the wines were good. I always preferred his whites to his reds.
James,
Yep, Andrew has been at it for awhile, and was certainly ‘flying high’ back in those early days of HdR. I agree that he had some ‘issues’ with some of his wines in the early 2000’s, then his family sold the estate that he had created to what is now called Demetria and he had to ‘reinvent’ himself using non-estate fruit.
The facility that he now leases and the vineyard that he now manages and considers his ‘estate’ used to be part of Curtis, which was one of Firestone’s brands, and the only thing that they did not sell to Bill Foley when he purchased their winery about 10 years ago. Andrew has always had a wonderful relationship with the Firestone family, and his coming back to Foxen Canyon Road has been a boom not only for his brand but for others in the area.
Andrew is extremely knowledgable about all aspects of winemaking from both a technical and non-technical viewpoint and he loves what he does. We get together to ‘share notes’ every now and then, and he is in a small tasting group that I and a few folks on this board are members of that gets together once a month of so to taste through wines and have fun.
If you are in the area, you really should plan on stopping by his place once again and, if possible, see if he’s around. And for those of you around the country, if you see his Tour Les Jours on a wine list, and it is usually relatively inexpensive and poured BTG, go for it - I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Cheers!
thanks Larry
I am a new fan, and the big and bold is what I like
cheers
Haven’t had anything other than his ‘Esperance’, but that’s a very tasty CdR blend and a solid value for $25. Don’t see it around very much, though.