2021 Andremily Wines Mourvedre Santa Barbara County

(100 Points)  Jim Binns manages to polish what can be a naturally rustic variety into a shining sapphire-like expression. Bottled on August 26 and tasted on October 25 it shows the elegance and juiciness that is characteristic of a cooler growing season. It's explosive and electrically blue on the nose with incredibly pure aromas of blueberry candy violet juniper and accents of coffee beans warm chocolate aniseed and grilled Wagyu beef?it continually unfurls to reveal new scents with each return to the glass. The palate is just as impressive with its balance of concentrated fragrant fruit fireworks of fresh acidity and finely chalky tannins and it has a tremendously long perfumed finish. The 2021 is blended with 12% Syrah and fruit comes from Andremily's new Slide Hill estate vineyard plus the Alta Mesa Vineyard and White Hawk Vineyard in Santa Barbara County. It was vinified using 75% whole clusters and matured around 21 months in 50% new French barriques and 600-liter demi-muids. 500 cases were made which will be sold as part of a three-bottle box set for $330. A few magnums were also made which will be sold as part of a two-bottle set with the 2021 No. 10 Syrah. Published: Nov 16 2023.  Wine Advocate

Andremily Wines has quickly earned the respect and now sits alongside some of the greatest producers of Rhône-varietal blends in California’s Central Coast.  This should not come as a surprise as owner and winemaker Jim Binns earned his winemaker wings during his 12 years as assistant winemaker to Manfred Krankl at Sine Qua Non (2006-2017).  During his tenure at Sine Qua Non they achieved an amazing 27×100 points scores!   Jim continues to add to his fame with every vintage as his stunning line-up at Andremily seems to just get better and better every year, balancing hedonism and elegance to near perfection every year.

Jim and his wife Rachel’s work hand and hand with their two children which were the inspiration of the winery name.  Andremily was inspired by, their son Andrew, and daughter Emily.  When thinking of names for their new brand, they wanted their new venture to express a sense of family, which was accomplished by combining both of their children’s first names.   In 2012, Andremily was born and Jim decided to moved on from Sine Qua Non in 2017 in an effort to dedicate 100% all of his time and efforts to Andremily Wines.  The winery is located in the coastal city of Ventura, where they bring their rare elixirs through elevage.

Manfred Krankl was very supportive from day one, and literally gifted Jim SQN’s contracts for two of his prized blocks of the White Hawk Vineyard in Santa Barbara’s Cat Canyon.  Jim then started looking for other sources to compliment White Hawk, and luckily was able to secure a few great blocks at the Larner Vineyard in Ballard Canyon and then Alta Mesa Vineyard in the Cuyama Valley. Thus the foundation of Andremily winery was firmly in place and the debut 2012 vintage of ‘Andremily No.1’ was released to huge critical acclaim.  A few more sources have been added to the tool box since, including the purchase of the Slide Vineyard in Edna Valley, which marks the beginning of Andremily Estate Vineyard.

Jim like most wine producers considers the vineyards and his team to be farmers first and therefor everything starts in the vineyards.  They work tirelessly to control the yields and to ensure a uniform balanced vineyard.  The fruit must be picked at optimal ripeness, then it goes through a series of sorting tables before it finally reaches the fermentation vessels.  Then before fermentation the grapes undergo a period of cold soaking before fermentation takes place.  The whole process from vineyard to winery at Andremily is very hands-on:   They monitor each fermentation closely, and work to optimize extraction at every point in the process.  After the fermentation is complete the finished wine goes into French oak barrels of which 60%-70% are new.   Andremily wines usually spend 22- 28 months in barrel before bottling but every vintage demands a slightly different regime at the winery.