This is now going to seem like an amateur having to post after @rjquillin, but I suppose if the shoe fitsā¦ Thanks to Alice and friends for giving me the opportunity to get a sneak peek into this offer, a fun excursion as always.
Myāuhhāprocess is much less involved than the one youāve probably already read. The Brown truck showed up with the bottle around noon on Tuesday and the box felt a little warm, so I quickly unpacked and moved the bottle off to the cooler to recover. Wednesday afternoon I opened the bottle and emptied roughly half into a decanter and stoppered the rest leaving it in the cool, dark pantry for the following day. I noted a rather mute nose on the decanter that hinted at dark fruits and cocoa.
Dinner had already been planned: grilled chicken thighs with pineapple and a slightly sweet Hawaiian-esqe sauce, a bit of rice, and salad. [Note: good choice as the flavors were strong and the wine stood proudly.] Initial observations revealed an intensely dark ruby with high clarity. The couple of hours awaiting dinner, the nose had developed quite a bit but was still what I would consider only moderately intense; I noted cocoa, blackberries, a hint of black pepper, and a light smokiness. Taking a few sips I found the wine inviting and well balanced, rich black fruits mixing with a decently strong cedar character, perhaps a bit of star anise, and a smokey (not camphor) end. At one point white eating I wrote āblack olive? maybeā but I never really flushed that out. My wife, who is more simply spoken than I just said āItās good; Iāll drink it.ā
As I teased the most that I could out of my glass, I sampled alongside a few random things I had; Blue Diamond Reaper Almonds: interesting, but not a go-to; Cocoa Almonds: tasty as a finish, but alas I didnāt stop here; White Stilton with mango and ginger: just donāt do this, please.
@drhellknow Well done, sounds like we tasted the same wine, and you made time to cook and pair; that helps imo.
Not sure what star anise tastes like and I too was shaking my head at where that olives comment came from. SWMBO here gave it a nod as well.
Thanks much for reporting on this one and for enjoying and appreciate our efforts. We are super proud to be able to work with the Alisos Vineyard, one of the earliest vineyards planted along Alisos Canyon Road and squarely within the new AVA (Alisos Canyon AVA). This new AVA is one of my favorites in Santa Barbara County for consistently delivering dark, delicious and balanced Syrah - ripe fruit notes with spicy earth notes to keep it from tasting like jam or fruit punch. Cheers,
@KitMarlot An oversight in my notesā¦ yes, I did pour a wee bit to try before decanting, mostly to confirm that the muted nose did not belie an immediately present flavor profile. There was some evolution in the flavors with the air, but not nearly as pronounced as for the nose. That being said, if Iād been pressed for time and swirled my cup aggressively I imagine this would have been just as enjoyable.
First, a thanks to Alice for verifying the ship-to address in advance, or this wouldnāt have happened in a timely manner at all.
My personal tastes are all over the spectrum, and Iāve been accused, as have others as well, of having the palate of a yak; and that I canāt deny. Not at all a fan of the trend of highly extracted, fruit forward juice, that thankfully seems to be moderating a bit, but rather would like something with more than just a few years on it, especially when crafted that permits development.
Ratting is for me stressful; I find itās difficult to tease out what Iām tasting into words and tend to be more brute force āI like it, I dis-like itā Here I tried to be a bit more structured; neutral crackers and water between tastes, and tried to maintain a somewhat controlled comparison between what came out of the bottle and what it may become.
Day 1: PnP @ RT ~19Ā°C
Nearly opaque, medium to dark ruby in hue, clear rim, no particulates.
Nose initially shy, minimal ethanol, warmed to dark fruits.
Palate followed nose; dark fruits, tart unripe blackberry (?) spice (not box) and some pepper.
Good acidity, medium tannins, some barrel, 10~15 second finish.
Split 750 bottle into a full screw-top 375 (vinitwo del finito) that went into fridge and the balance remained in the recorked 750 that lived on counter at RT.
Day 2: warmed 375 and chilled 750 to ~18Ā°C for a quick comparison.
As expected changes to the 375 were minimal if any.
The RT 750 softened in acidity with diminished nose.
Gassed, Ar, the 375 and back to the fridge, recorked the 750 and again at RT on the counter.
Day 3: Thursday evening for some attempt at thoughtful tasting.
Again warmed the 375 to 17.2Ā°C and chilled the 750 to 17.8Ā°C to equalize them a bit.
The 375 benchmark remained consistent while the 750 showed additional softening of both nose and palate.
As they both warmed to RT ~21Ā°C some Eth appeared in the 375 that was absent in the 750.
The 375 also retained its original nose where the 750 initially lost a considerable amount of its fruit until it too warmed. Fully warmed the 375 seemed simpler than the 750 that had become more integrated and interesting. Both remained balanced but I liked the interplay of fruit, acid and barrel of the 750 more.
For comparison, I Coravinād the '18 Stolpman estate Syrah recently offered and preferred the somewhat understated Murray. While both are Syrah, they are quite dissimilar. The Murray is a solid bottle at the CM price (yup, the offer just went live) and a cut above a daily drinker.
I like the Murray, and am looking for a spilt. Also, I have enough left Iāll take to work tomorrow for a Syrah aficionado to comment on, hopefully, and add some additional thoughtsā¦
Purchase with confidence, folks. Though I am a bit biased as Andrew is a good friend and Iām a āfan boyā of his wines and have been for quite some time, the guy knows how to craft beautiful, rich, textured and nuanced wines. As you can see by the lab rats, this wine is still young and will definitely benefit from either significant air time or more time in bottle (I prefer the former - drink up, folks). Cheers.
@tercerowines Much love my good friendā¦thank you for the kind words - you know I appreciate your efforts just as much and your bottles have a special place in my heart and cellar!
I had a bottle of this last night - I purchased a case a couple of weeks ago on divvy up. I didnāt take extensive notes as Iām not a labrat but I would definitely buy this deal if I didnāt have 11 in the cellar already. First taste was a little tight but not overly tannic and it opened up with a about 15-20 mins in the glass. I thought it was nicely balanced - medium tannin and dark fruit coming through. My husband and I really enjoyed this wine and are having a hard time passing on this deal.
If anyone in SE MI is on the fence and needs someone to split a case with (or offload a couple bottles) I could be persuaded.
Iāve been drinking Andrew Murrayās Rhones for 25 years. They are great young, and spectacular with 7-12 years on them. Jump in, this is a great deal!
@AndrewMurray Your OG Roasted Slopes from the mid 90ās are STILL drinking. Miraculous considering the price I paid and that some LALAs from that era arenāt even still alive. Are you designating any Alisos Canyon AVA wines?
@WesHagen Thank you again! Thank you for making the AVA a reality! Your work on that was invaluableā¦ Yes, we work with Nolan, Alisos and Watch Hill (all in the AVA) - so future bottlings will for sure bear the new AVA!
Andrew Murray Syrah, Alisos Vineyard
3 bottles for $69.99 $23.33/bottle + $2.67/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $229.99 $19.17/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2018 Andrew Murray Syrah, Alisos Vineyard - $50 = 17.85%
@losthighwayz Thank youā¦crazy deal. We had promised to CM a while back and almost sold out of it before we remembered to offer to CM, so certainly less available than they originally expectedā¦
@losthighwayz We just released the 2020 Fruit Salad and Sheāll Be Right. You can learn more about the new vintages at www.E11even.wine (we even recently launched a new websiteā¦finally)
Cedar, Cassis, Peppercorn, Black Olive, Star Anise
The Alisos vineyard lies along the Los Alamos Valley, about 5 miles east of the town of Los Alamos. The topography has steep south-facing hills in blocks 5 and 6 which are all farmed organically. We typically source from blocks 5 (clone 7) and 6 (Estrella clone) where the soils are chert-laden (a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline silica), and very well-drained. Berries tend to be more delicate and fragile than any other Syrah we source (indicative of the Estrella clone). We forgo any sorting from this vineyard, and rather focus on whole cluster and some simple destemming. Despite the delicate nature of the fruit, the wines are always big in structure and benefit greatly from time in the bottle. The wine was bottled after 18 months in French Oak Barrels, 20% of which were new.
āThe 2018 Syrah Alisos Vineyard is one of the more gracious wines in this range. Floral accents perk up a core of ripe red fruit in a suave, silky Syrah that hits all the right notes. Medium in body and supremely expressive, the 2018 is inviting and ready to drink now. Hints of cedar, spice, mint and licorice linger on the close. Andrew Murray turned out a striking set of 2018s that shows just how compelling this vintage is, especially for RhĆ“ne-variety wines. This is an impressive range of wines that offer tremendous pleasure.ā ā Vinous/Antonio Galloni
Andrew Murray fell in love with the emerging RhĆ“ne varieties, Syrah and Viognier, in the late 1980ās while traveling through Franceās RhĆ“ne Valley. Leaving his UC Berkeley paleontology studies behind, he pursued his new mistress, Syrah, with an internship in Australia. His three-month tryst evolved into a 15-month romance with the famed Australian Shiraz. Returning to the states, he earned a bachelorās degree in viticulture and enology from UC Davisā renowned wine program, then founded his eponymous Santa Ynez winery and vineyard.
He sought out growers who shared his passion for excellence and who dared to farm their vines to perilously low yields with the most advanced viticultural methods in the industry. This uncompromising winemakerās lucid philosophy is summarized succinctly in three words: Passion ā Evolution ā Wisdom; the Passion of an unflagging love affair with RhĆ“ne varieties; the Evolution of winemaking techniques where even the most subtle nuance is divined from each new vintage; and the Wisdom gained with 20 years of winemaking experience.
Andrewās focus and dedication to his craft have culminated in what Robert Parker, Jr. calls, āā¦one of the shining stars in the Santa Barbara firmament.ā This perennially youthful perfectionist has been named āTastemaker of the Yearā by Food and Wine Magazine, as well as, āOne of the most fearsome talents in food and wine.ā Still, despite myriad accolades, Andrew remains the same modest, approachable, contemplative man he was when he first embarked to Australia back in 1992. He is eternally committed to vinicultural āKaizenā ā the unrelenting pursuit of continuous improvement.
As Robert Parker, Jr. put it, āā¦Andrew Murrayās offerings are a breath of fresh air given their exceptionally high quality and realistic prices ā reader take note.ā We hope youāll come visit us and delight in sampling the fruits of Andrewās passionate labors.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
@jfuruno I might be down!!! Let me talk to the Englishman! I think he just drank the last of our last split with you while Iām visiting family in New Orleansā¦
Any comparison available with ā2017 Andrew Murray Syrah, Alisos Vineyardā which was offered in Sept. 2020 as part of Andrew Murray 90+ Point Reds. I loved those and now have ran out of those, except the 2017 Petit Verdot.
I am probably not the best to comment, because I have an interest in selling the few cases allocated to CM this time aroundā¦but, the 2018 was an amazing vintage, similar to the 2017, but a slightly lower actual alcohol (whatever the bottle reads) and a bit more natural balance and grip - enjoyable now, but more built for the long haulā¦
@AndrewMurray, Thank you Sir for the insight. That was enough to persuade me, but damn me, got busy with work yesterday afternoon and missed the offer!
This is now going to seem like an amateur having to post after @rjquillin, but I suppose if the shoe fitsā¦ Thanks to Alice and friends for giving me the opportunity to get a sneak peek into this offer, a fun excursion as always.
Myāuhhāprocess is much less involved than the one youāve probably already read. The Brown truck showed up with the bottle around noon on Tuesday and the box felt a little warm, so I quickly unpacked and moved the bottle off to the cooler to recover. Wednesday afternoon I opened the bottle and emptied roughly half into a decanter and stoppered the rest leaving it in the cool, dark pantry for the following day. I noted a rather mute nose on the decanter that hinted at dark fruits and cocoa.
Dinner had already been planned: grilled chicken thighs with pineapple and a slightly sweet Hawaiian-esqe sauce, a bit of rice, and salad. [Note: good choice as the flavors were strong and the wine stood proudly.] Initial observations revealed an intensely dark ruby with high clarity. The couple of hours awaiting dinner, the nose had developed quite a bit but was still what I would consider only moderately intense; I noted cocoa, blackberries, a hint of black pepper, and a light smokiness. Taking a few sips I found the wine inviting and well balanced, rich black fruits mixing with a decently strong cedar character, perhaps a bit of star anise, and a smokey (not camphor) end. At one point white eating I wrote āblack olive? maybeā but I never really flushed that out. My wife, who is more simply spoken than I just said āItās good; Iāll drink it.ā
As I teased the most that I could out of my glass, I sampled alongside a few random things I had; Blue Diamond Reaper Almonds: interesting, but not a go-to; Cocoa Almonds: tasty as a finish, but alas I didnāt stop here; White Stilton with mango and ginger: just donāt do this, please.
Last night I prepared a dinner of grilled hamburger with melted cheddar curds and sautĆ©ed green beans, a simple and reliable meal for what had been a busy day. [Note: burger went extremely well, but beans were a but under-flavored as I forgot to add my chipotle and cayenne.] Wine was poured into glasses before I began cooking, so was out of the bottle for maybe 30 minutes before we sat down. Tonight the nose was more open and full of black fruits with the previous cocoa hints being all but gone now. The flavors ran true to expectation with extremely ripe plum and black berries, with a diminished amount of anise and smoke essence. I wrote that it felt more āgrippyā than the day before, assuming that means anything to you. At the conclusion of her glass, my wife reported āI think Iām replacing CS with Syrah as my go-to.ā I think that means she liked it a lot.
@drhellknow Well done, sounds like we tasted the same wine, and you made time to cook and pair; that helps imo.
Not sure what star anise tastes like and I too was shaking my head at where that olives comment came from. SWMBO here gave it a nod as well.
@drhellknow
Thanks much for reporting on this one and for enjoying and appreciate our efforts. We are super proud to be able to work with the Alisos Vineyard, one of the earliest vineyards planted along Alisos Canyon Road and squarely within the new AVA (Alisos Canyon AVA). This new AVA is one of my favorites in Santa Barbara County for consistently delivering dark, delicious and balanced Syrah - ripe fruit notes with spicy earth notes to keep it from tasting like jam or fruit punch. Cheers,
Andrew
@drhellknow Did you happen taste the wine at all before decanting? Always curious about how it tastes right out of the bottle.
@KitMarlot An oversight in my notesā¦ yes, I did pour a wee bit to try before decanting, mostly to confirm that the muted nose did not belie an immediately present flavor profile. There was some evolution in the flavors with the air, but not nearly as pronounced as for the nose. That being said, if Iād been pressed for time and swirled my cup aggressively I imagine this would have been just as enjoyable.
@drhellknow Thanks for the fun review & pics. (and appreciate your wifeās review too)
@AndrewMurray Itās been my pleasure to enjoy the fruits of your labors, in this instance, and before; SantĆ©!
First, a thanks to Alice for verifying the ship-to address in advance, or this wouldnāt have happened in a timely manner at all.
My personal tastes are all over the spectrum, and Iāve been accused, as have others as well, of having the palate of a yak; and that I canāt deny. Not at all a fan of the trend of highly extracted, fruit forward juice, that thankfully seems to be moderating a bit, but rather would like something with more than just a few years on it, especially when crafted that permits development.
Ratting is for me stressful; I find itās difficult to tease out what Iām tasting into words and tend to be more brute force āI like it, I dis-like itā Here I tried to be a bit more structured; neutral crackers and water between tastes, and tried to maintain a somewhat controlled comparison between what came out of the bottle and what it may become.
Day 1: PnP @ RT ~19Ā°C
Nearly opaque, medium to dark ruby in hue, clear rim, no particulates.
Nose initially shy, minimal ethanol, warmed to dark fruits.
Palate followed nose; dark fruits, tart unripe blackberry (?) spice (not box) and some pepper.
Good acidity, medium tannins, some barrel, 10~15 second finish.
Split 750 bottle into a full screw-top 375 (vinitwo del finito) that went into fridge and the balance remained in the recorked 750 that lived on counter at RT.
Day 2: warmed 375 and chilled 750 to ~18Ā°C for a quick comparison.
As expected changes to the 375 were minimal if any.
The RT 750 softened in acidity with diminished nose.
Gassed, Ar, the 375 and back to the fridge, recorked the 750 and again at RT on the counter.
Day 3: Thursday evening for some attempt at thoughtful tasting.
Again warmed the 375 to 17.2Ā°C and chilled the 750 to 17.8Ā°C to equalize them a bit.
The 375 benchmark remained consistent while the 750 showed additional softening of both nose and palate.
As they both warmed to RT ~21Ā°C some Eth appeared in the 375 that was absent in the 750.
The 375 also retained its original nose where the 750 initially lost a considerable amount of its fruit until it too warmed. Fully warmed the 375 seemed simpler than the 750 that had become more integrated and interesting. Both remained balanced but I liked the interplay of fruit, acid and barrel of the 750 more.
For comparison, I Coravinād the '18 Stolpman estate Syrah recently offered and preferred the somewhat understated Murray. While both are Syrah, they are quite dissimilar. The Murray is a solid bottle at the CM price (yup, the offer just went live) and a cut above a daily drinker.
I like the Murray, and am looking for a spilt. Also, I have enough left Iāll take to work tomorrow for a Syrah aficionado to comment on, hopefully, and add some additional thoughtsā¦
Looking forward to comments from the other Rat.
@rjquillin pallet? Really? And you grammar-policed me?
@rjquillin Love this man.
@losthighwayz @rjquillin Listen, he got it right 2 out of 3 tries, thatās better than a lot of other spellers here!
@rjquillin Iām guessing you are a scientist or engineer? Very methodical and meticulous!
@losthighwayz @rjquillin
@rjquillin Love your scientific comparison between air/no air and temps! Thanks for a great write-up!
@rjquillin Thanks for the wonderfully thorough and nerdy Lab Rat Reportā¦ Appreciate you sharing your thoughts for the CM community. Cheers,
Andrew
@AndrewMurray @rjquillin you do like nerdy, donāt you Mr. Murray?
@rjquillin Thank you for the very thorough rattage. Much appreciated.
@AndrewMurray Good to have the opportunity, which of course, requires your efforts and wine!
@losthighwayz @rjquillin
@InFrom @losthighwayz @rjquillin Apparently you can afford a little misspelling when you are the editor. Ha!
And nice write up
Purchase with confidence, folks. Though I am a bit biased as Andrew is a good friend and Iām a āfan boyā of his wines and have been for quite some time, the guy knows how to craft beautiful, rich, textured and nuanced wines. As you can see by the lab rats, this wine is still young and will definitely benefit from either significant air time or more time in bottle (I prefer the former - drink up, folks). Cheers.
@tercerowines Much love my good friendā¦thank you for the kind words - you know I appreciate your efforts just as much and your bottles have a special place in my heart and cellar!
I had a bottle of this last night - I purchased a case a couple of weeks ago on divvy up. I didnāt take extensive notes as Iām not a labrat but I would definitely buy this deal if I didnāt have 11 in the cellar already. First taste was a little tight but not overly tannic and it opened up with a about 15-20 mins in the glass. I thought it was nicely balanced - medium tannin and dark fruit coming through. My husband and I really enjoyed this wine and are having a hard time passing on this deal.
If anyone in SE MI is on the fence and needs someone to split a case with (or offload a couple bottles) I could be persuaded.
@a5meiser Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Iāve been drinking Andrew Murrayās Rhones for 25 years. They are great young, and spectacular with 7-12 years on them. Jump in, this is a great deal!
@WesHagen Awww shucks, Wesā¦ thanks so very much. Hope life is treating you wellā¦ Cheers!
@AndrewMurray Your OG Roasted Slopes from the mid 90ās are STILL drinking. Miraculous considering the price I paid and that some LALAs from that era arenāt even still alive. Are you designating any Alisos Canyon AVA wines?
@WesHagen Thank you again! Thank you for making the AVA a reality! Your work on that was invaluableā¦ Yes, we work with Nolan, Alisos and Watch Hill (all in the AVA) - so future bottlings will for sure bear the new AVA!
/giphy meaty-workable-smell
Andrew Murray is pretty much an auto-buy for me.
@salcorn Me too, and at that price? Maybe 2 cs because his stuff AGES.
Andrew Murray Syrah, Alisos Vineyard
3 bottles for $69.99 $23.33/bottle + $2.67/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $229.99 $19.17/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2018 Andrew Murray Syrah, Alisos Vineyard
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2018 Andrew Murray Syrah, Alisos Vineyard - $50 = 17.85%
Andrew Murray wine club member. Great wines and amazing hospitality! This is a great deal imo. Up to my ears in wine so in for a 3 pack!
@losthighwayz Thank youā¦crazy deal. We had promised to CM a while back and almost sold out of it before we remembered to offer to CM, so certainly less available than they originally expectedā¦
@AndrewMurray this will sell out! Ever considered bottling your Fruit Salad? We love it!
@losthighwayz We just released the 2020 Fruit Salad and Sheāll Be Right. You can learn more about the new vintages at www.E11even.wine (we even recently launched a new websiteā¦finally)
Splitters my NOVA or MD folk?
@bunnymasseuse Iāll take 3, maybe more if there arenāt other takers!
@bunnymasseuse @cduan you can put 2 in my stack
@cduan @kls_in_MD done
/giphy jumping-killer-hair
2018 Andrew Murray Syrah, Alisos Vineyard
92 points ~ Vinous
Tasting Notes
Specs
Whatās Included
3-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
$525/Case at Andrew Murray Vineyards for 12x 2018 Andrew Murray Syrah, Alisos Vineyard
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, May 27 - Tuesday, Jun 1
Looking for SoCal splitzā¦
@rjquillin In.
Anyone in PDX interested in splitting a case?
@jfuruno maybe if I hadnāt had both the Gruet case and the Latour/Fessy split case delivered today.
@jfuruno I might be down!!! Let me talk to the Englishman! I think he just drank the last of our last split with you while Iām visiting family in New Orleansā¦
@sillyheathen Sounds good. Let me know. These wines are great. We can meet at Coldstone again. ā¦and have fun in NOLA , one of my favorite places.
@mayorofbellona No worries. I bought those too.
How about NYC? A three-pack is plenty for me, so I may just go for that, but taking a share in a case would be nice.
@InFrom I could take 3 bottles
@InVinoVeritas Iāll buy if we can get a taker or takers for the other 6.
@michaelvella said 6 hours ago
Anyone else for a 3-way?
@rjquillin Iām in.
@buffaloroam @michaelvella
The two of us are both in San Diego. That work for you?
@rjquillin yes I figure at some point we will make a plan to meet up.
@buffaloroam @michaelvella
jaded-hushed-rosemary
4 each if that works
@buffaloroam @rjquillin Works for me, thank you.
@rjquillin if you want to split it up 4 ways Iāll take 3.
@CorTot @buffaloroam @michaelvella
I donāt much care and will default to whatever you two want to do.
@buffaloroam @CorTot @rjquillin let me know when it shows up and Iāll grab my share and pay you.
Any comparison available with ā2017 Andrew Murray Syrah, Alisos Vineyardā which was offered in Sept. 2020 as part of Andrew Murray 90+ Point Reds. I loved those and now have ran out of those, except the 2017 Petit Verdot.
@abhiabhi
I am probably not the best to comment, because I have an interest in selling the few cases allocated to CM this time aroundā¦but, the 2018 was an amazing vintage, similar to the 2017, but a slightly lower actual alcohol (whatever the bottle reads) and a bit more natural balance and grip - enjoyable now, but more built for the long haulā¦
@abhiabhi @AndrewMurray Andrew hopefully we are still rewarded even if we donāt lay a few bottles down for a while?
@AndrewMurray, Thank you Sir for the insight. That was enough to persuade me, but damn me, got busy with work yesterday afternoon and missed the offer!
/giphy jammed-gaudy-cookie