* Andrew Murray Vineyards is a family-owned winery located in Los Olivos,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Nestled in the Santa Ynez Valley AVA of Santa Barbara County, it specializes in Rhône varieties

Syrah Syrah (), also known as Shiraz, is a dark-skinned grape variety grown throughout the world and used primarily to produce red wine. In 1999, Syrah was found to be the offspring of two obscure grapes from southeastern France, Dureza and Mondeuse B ...

Grenache Grenache () or Garnacha () is one of the most widely planted red wine grape varieties in the world. Niels Lillelund: ''Rhône-Vinene'' p. 25, JP Bøger – JP/Politikens Forlagshus A/S, 2004. . It ripens late, so it needs hot, dry conditi ...

, Roussanne, Marsanne, and

Grenache blanc Grenache blanc (also known as garnatxa blanca in Catalonia) is a variety of white wine grape that is related to the red grape Grenache. It is mostly found in Rhône wine blends and in northeast Spain. Its wines are characterized by high alcohol a ...

. Andrew Murray Vineyards is one of the wineries along the famous Foxen Canyon Wine Trail.

History

Andrew Murray Vineyards was founded in 1990 when entrepreneurs Jim and Fran Murray sold their southern California restaurants and 'retired' to 200 acres of fertile soil in the Santa Ynez Valley. With their son and winemaker Andrew Murray at the helm, the Los Olivos winery is now a well-respected purveyor of Rhône-style wines. Andrew (born February 1, 1972) came of age in the wine business. As a teenager, Andrew traveled with his family on lengthy expeditions in France’s Rhône Valley wine region. He acted as translator as his father interviewed some of France’s notable winemakers. Together they planted their vineyard on steep hillside slopes. Andrew earned a bachelor of science degree in enology and viticulture from the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

, and studied the art of crafting Syrah with an extended internship in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He made his first wine in Australia at the age of 19 and his eponymous winery's first vintage was 1993. When the vineyard was sold in 2006, Andrew obtained leases for blocks of vineyards throughout California’s Central Coast for wine production. He established a new Los Olivos winery in a former brewery on property owned by fellow vintners, the Firestone family. Regarded as a maverick in the wine business, Andrew Murray Vineyards took the controversial step of switching to screw-tops to enclose all its wines starting with the 2006 vintage. Among other things, Murray cited considerable industry cork failure rates as one of the chief reasons for his decision.Murray, Andrew. "Corks...Are They Screwing Up Wine?". ''Andrew Murray Vineyards''. Web. 16 March 2011. http://www.andrewmurrayvineyards.com/category/blog/ . Retrieved 2011-7-9.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://AndrewMurrayVineyards.com Wineries in California California wine 1990 establishments in California Food and drink companies established in 1990 American companies established in 1990