2020 Qupé Syrah, Bien Nacido Hillside Estate, Santa Maria Valley
Tasting Notes
Hard to believe, but this is our 27th release of this special single vineyard; 1994 was the first. This vineyard block just keeps getting better with age. It is rich without being heavy, and with moderate alcohol, has great balance for aging. We’ve aged it 2 years in barrel and 2 years in bottle, so it shows well on release. It is deeply colored with well-integrated flavors of blueberries, cola, and hints of black pepper. If you do keep a cellar, you could put this away for another 10-15 years!
Vineyard
This wine is 100% Syrah from the Z Block at Bien Nacido Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley. Z Block was our first “custom” planting at Bien Nacido, planted in 1992 on a perfect southwest-facing hillside.
Winemaking
We used time-tested, traditional winemaking techniques … open top fermenters … 25% whole clusters … and manual punch down twice a day until the fermentation is dry. With this Syrah, I also do a small portion (about 10-12%) of saignee barrel fermentation, which gives the wine a nice toasty, mocha aspect.
After pressing, the wine was aged for 24 months in French Oak Burgundy barrels. For the first year in, about 40% new barrels then racked, blended, and returned to neutral barrels for the additional time. I then selected my favorite 18 barrels and bottled.
Specs
Composition: 100% Syrah
Alcohol: 14.5%
2022 Qupé Syrah, Central Coast
90 Points, Vinous 90 Points, Jeb Dunnuck
Tasting Notes
The 2022 vintage was a classic and nearly perfect vintage for the Central Coast Syrah. Warm days and cold nights helped to naturally limit yields while allowing our various Syrah sites to develop the full array of cool-climate Syrah notes: bright cherry, blackberry, white pepper, purple flowers, licorice, tar, and smoky meats. Though rich and concentrated, the palate is smooth, and the finish is as long and fresh as the summer evenings that inspire this wine.
Vineyard
Qupé has been crafting cool-climate Syrah from the Central Coast for over 40 years. We know where the best fruit comes from, and we leverage our long-term relationships to have our vineyard partners farm specific sites to our very strict requirements – low yield, clean, unblemished fruit, all certified sustainable. We want this wine to speak of its cool-climate origins, while showcasing the diversity of the Central Coast. 50% of the wine comes from 30+ year old vines growing in the sandy, limestone-rich slopes of Arroyo Grande where we achieve incredibly rich and dark color, with spicy red fruit notes and vibrant natural acidity. The remaining 50% is grown in the sandy, gravelly soils of the Santa Ynez Valley, where we find slightly warmer days and even colder nights that reveal blackberry, blueberry, and peppery notes. The final blend yields a quintessential Central Coast Syrah.
Winemaking
As with all our Syrah bottlings, this wine was crafted with traditional methods in our modern, state-of-the-art winery: hand harvesting at night to benefit from our cold evenings, small picks at a broad spectrum of ripeness to ensure maximum complexity, and flavor development. We employ a mix of quite small open-top tanks and medium-sized closed tanks for a short cold-soak before a rather quick fermentation that allows us to achieve incredible color and medium weight, balanced tannins, and a long, smooth finish. After fermentation, the must is gently pressed to stainless tanks to settle overnight before being racked to French Oak barrels for 18 months of aging on very fine lees. As bottling approaches, the wine is clean racked under nitrogen to the tank for final blending and resting before bottling using our own bottling equipment.
Specs
Composition 100% Syrah
Alcohol 14.5%
Case Production 6,600
What’s Included
6-bottles:
2x 2020 Qupé Syrah, Bien Nacido Hillside Estate, Santa Maria Valley
4x 2022 Qupé Syrah, Central Coast Case:
4x 2020 Qupé Syrah, Bien Nacido Hillside Estate, Santa Maria Valley
Qupé was founded in 1982, along Foxen Canyon Road, in the heart of the Santa Ynez Valley. Amazingly enough, this was right next door to where Andrew Murray Vineyards was founded less than a decade later. Qupé’s founder, Bob Lindquist, is a giant in the world of wine, where he is a pioneer in every sense of the word. Qupé’s founding in 1982 paved the way for our own founding in 1990. Bob loved Syrah before anyone else. He quickly grew Qupé into a worldwide phenomenon of a Rhone-focused wine brand that also crafted delicate and delicious Chardonnay. Bob pioneered hillside sites, from cool climate appellations, with sandy, calcareous, and rocky soils. Andrew Murray Vineyards grew up in the shadow of this legendary and historic brand.
By way of tenacity and some good fortune, Andrew was able to purchase the Qupé brand and all assets (including an amazing array of library wines) in October of 2024. Andrew and his family and his very capable winegrowing team have brought the brand home, to where it started on Foxen Canyon Road, when it was just a couple of barrels and a glint in Bob’s eyes. All of us at Andrew Murray Vineyards are extremely excited about the future. We look forward to righting the ship and bringing Qupé back to its former glory by focusing on the brand’s core values of sustainability, quality, and affordability. The current array of wines are absolutely delicious. We invite you to seek them out in your home markets, stores, and restaurant wine lists. The wines are rich and nuanced and thoughtfully crafted. If you are a fan of Andrew Murray Vineyards, then we are confident that you will also enjoy the entire range of Qupé wine.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI, WY
2020 Qupé Syrah Santa Maria Valley Bien Nacido Hillside Estate
Pretty exciting to have a Qupé Syrah to review! We still have 3 magnums from a (much) earlier Casemates offer of 2008-2013 Syrahs. We enjoyed what we had opened, so this one was a welcomed opportunity.
This wine is definitely one to consider for those who like Syrah.
First pour: Bottle was chilled and opened to breathe for about twenty minutes. Serving temp was right at 66°. Composite cork showed very little staining, with very little penetration. Color is a very inky purple. I was tempted to put ‘aubergine’, but it’s darker than that. The nose was definitely a sumptuous dark fruit (boysenberry/blackberry), forest floor, and spice. Swirling the glass yielded long quick legs. ABV is listed at 14.5%.
Fist sips backed up the aromas. Black fruits are dominant, slight alcohol that fades quickly. Woodsy with some floral and peppery notes on the palate that follow. Nice tannins that were not overwhelming. Mrs. Rat called out black raspberry with a little bit of smokey oak and plum. This is a very flavorful Syrah.
Initial pairings: with Gouda this was a great match., the Gouda softened and complimented the tannins. Cheddar, not quite as ideal, as expected, the sharpness wasn’t an ideal match. Trying the 72% cacao chocolates was good- but not as nice as the match with the Gouda.
Main course for the evening was some Amish chicken with bbq sauce on bakery buns with roasted Parmesan rosemary (from the garden) potatoes. This matched up well with the Syrah.
With the main course served, I considered what could we do for a Syrah comparison. The 3 magnums of Qupé were way too much for two. But- I knew we had a case of mixed Andrew Murray wines in the cellar. With that in mind, I selected a 2018 Tous les Jours Santa Ynes Valley to pop open. The two wines are clearly Syrah, but definitely different. The AM was very smooth. The Qupé matched better with the Gouda, the AM better with the bbq sauce of the chicken. It was hard to pick which was better.
We were very glad to see Qupé picked up by Andrew Murray, as we enjoyed the prior and now current wines. No hesitation in recommending this bottling for those looking for a flavorful Syrah! At the case price, an exceptional deal!
Thank you so much for the thoughtful reportage… and so humbled that you are expecting good things from our stewardship. We are are quite proud to help bring Qupe soon into it’s 4th decade
@AndrewMurray Andrew, a sincere ‘thank you’ for your very active participation on the site! It really is helpful and informative on many levels. Hope we can get out to CA and visit the winery in the near future!
I’m excited to finally try 2022 Qupe Syrah. I’ve had a number of Qupe bottlings in the past, but i haven’t had any from the Andrew Murray era. Here we go!
Nose: dusty, pencils, cedar. It doesn’t come out as fruity, but more savory and woodsy. I’m not getting a lot of bacon/olive character either. This is definitely “tobacco box” / “pencil shaving” territory. Pretty short on the nose too.
It has a nice mouthfeel, but does end pretty quickly. Back with the dust and earth, lavender, and green peppercorn. Also i’m getting the zip of an underripe blackberry. It definitely fills the mouth with flavor, and it’s got a good lingering finish – much longer than it is on the nose.
With some air it started to develop the brininess i like from cold climate Syrah. As it is bottled under screw cap, i suspect it will continue to develop over the evening while it gets some air.
I like it.
A lot, in fact. Syrah has been my go-to “popular” variety for a long while, and this is a good bottle. It’s bright and tangy. It worked great with a herby pizza i made, but it’s also showing good stuff without food as i write this.
@radiolysis Thanks for taking the time to report back your thoughts. We are quite proud of this bottling. It is our first since we took over…we are already garnering press and attention for the future vintages, but this 2022 is super solid. It was started by the very able team at Laetitia in Arroyo Grande and this is the wine that I tasted in barrel and fell in love with and knew that I had to bring Qupe home to Los Olivos. It is still young, and it has a fun medium term life ahead - and it represents a silly value in the world of wine. The fruit is either organic certified or SIP certified fruit from Arroyo Grande, Santa Maria and Los Olivos (my own backyard). These are long term partnerships that we were able to bring forward into our ownership. These are early days, but we are especially bullish about Qupe and hopefully slowly bringing a bit of the old Bob Lindquist style luster back to this legacy brand.
@losthighwayz Great question. I am seeing these questions late in the day since we were sampling grapes in the dark this morning for Qupe Chardonnay in Sta Rita Hills (picking next week then blending wine to be bottled next week while also preparing to bottle tomorrow and Friday. Yikes, these are crazy days. But, back to your question, the 2020 and 2022 vintage wines were made up at Laetitia by the very talented Blake Kuhn…an amazing and thoughtful winemaker and his team. I believe Dustin Hickey was also making the wine at the same time. When we learned of the chance to acquire the Qupe brand, we were met with open arms and the opportunity to taste as many barrels as we wanted. We fell in love with these wines and were pinching ourselves that this deal could possibly happen. Andrew Murray Vineyards is a small family brand and we are not in the business of M and A - heck, I barely knew what that meant a year ago. But, I grew up next to where Qupe started, I grew up in the shadow of Bob Lindquist and his rhone centric passion and success. I have always looked up to him and admired Qupe. I cannot properly express in words how much it meant to me to have the chance to acquire Qupe. It has been nothing short of challenging, but I have always loved a good challenge and I look forward to further integrating Qupe into our own winery facility from now into the future. We crafted the 2024 vintage from grape on and the 2020 through 2023 vintages were started at Laetitia and slowly finished by us in our own winery and bottled by us using our own facility…stay tuned and hold us accountable. We hope you love where Qupe is heading
@hscottk@losthighwayz@Winedavid49 winemaker would be from the Vintage Wine Estates corporate era…whoever that was…of course that doesn’t answer your question
@rjquillin@Winedavid49 Sorry, late to the party and I have now answered the questions about winemaking. I hope you can see answers above. We did not have anything to do with the 2020 Bien Nacido HE, but I love this wine and this fabled block on this amazing vineyard. This wine was part of the reason I was confident in our purchase of Qupe. As far as the 2022 Central Coast, I was able to bring these barrels from Laetitia to our winery, taste through them, pick my favorite, and blend them to our tastes and bottle them. We are super proud of the 2022, our first bottling (even if we didnt actually pick or make the wine). I tasted through every lot of wine prior to going after Qupe…as much as I loved the history of the brand and wanted to preserve a Rhone Centric legacy founded by our friend Bob Lindquist, I fell in love with these wines and knew we could finish them to our liking. The team at Laetitia did an amazing job. Qupe’s challenges had nothing to do with them, their problems started and ended at the corporate level…the boots on the ground people are now friends and esteemed colleagues. We are quite proud to have the opportunity to finish these wines in our own cellar and send them out to the world. BTW, the 2022 is really just about to hit the market in California…it has been sold in some markets outside of CA…so this is a first and early look at this wine.
Thank you so very much. We are so proud and excited to be carrying the torch for Qupe and bringing one of my favorite brands into the future. Thank you for the thoughtful rattage. So Glad that you enjoyed this bottle.
@PLSemenza I am a tired idiot, I thought i was replying to a lab rat report…thus my comments about being thankful that you enjoyed the wine. I should have said that I very much appreciate you taking a chance and I HOPE you enjoy the wines…because I do. Thank you!
@AndrewMurray
I understand perfectly, been super busy working those 26 hour days.
But a little context: our 1st wine Club ever was Fess Parker 1989, great champion of Santa Ynez wines. When we met Fess, and said you Pinot & Syrah wines were great. He side, “I appreciate that; you have to try the Foxen Pinot & the Qupe Syrah, they are Awesome.” What a Guy!! so that was 2nd & 3rd we joined. Several autografted bottles and a personal ride in his Hummer later. My Bride & I had our honeymoon at the Ballard Inn, mountain room. That was 1994.
Thank you for saving the ‘Qupe Brand’ it means so much to us. Cathy & Paul. PS: Qupé Syrah - Tall & Small Combo
Quantity: 1 4-bottles Order: robust-obedient-hill
That Dunnuck review on the 2022:
90 points. Juicy blackberries, pepper, violets, and some gamey, underbrush notes all emerge from the 2022 Syrah Central Coast, a 90% destemmed Syrah aged 22 months in 100% new French oak with 10% new. Medium-bodied, juicy, and silky on the palate, with tons of charm, as well as classic, impeccably made Syrah character, it should have a solid 5-7 years of longevity. Drink 2025-2030 9/4/2025
@kaolis
Now that you mention that, I do think I read, somewhere, something similar to what you describe. Or was it that later went into 90% neutral and 10% new after racking…
@kaolis@rjquillin That error was not lost on us…100% French Oak, 10% new is how it should have read, but I believe that is a direct quote. Small, silly error. Please all, this wine was NOT aged in 100% new French Oak…that is not the intent of this wine and should likely not be intent of any wine. This made me chuckle as I had not realized that is what the review actually said…
Great backstory on Mr. Murray purchasing Qupe. Can be found in the comments for the magnum sale or probably google search.
Speaking of Magnums, I have 2 from the said previous offering. Whole family (9 of us) are heading out to visit my daughters newborn. I think I’m going to bring the Qupe magnum, seems like the right time.
Have to pass on this offering, had to look at my order history to remember what’s inside the unopened boxes that is not yet racked or 'Fridged.
@forlich Thank you so much. I hope those Magnums deliver immense enjoyment to you and your family. We have a very fun library of wine that came over with the sale (who knows maybe the Casemates Overlords might consider another ?) Until then, I drink these 10+ year old magnums as often as I can and toast our unbelievable luck that no one bid against me in the auction for Qupe…
@AndrewMurray know this is crazy season good luck with the vintage.
We will be evaluating the Qupe Syrah against the recently closed Onesta Syrah, like you Jillian Johnson Deleon is no slouch in winemaking. Her Cinsault was a family favorite. We are not wine experts but ive turned my kids into “Wine-ees” by sharing a lot of casemates wine with stories of the wine makers, varietals they never tried, brands we dont often see back east. Family + Meals with Wine = beautiful times
Hope to see you here again soon enjoy both your AM Vinyards and E11even bottlings which i dont see in North NJ.
True about the 2014 vs the 2020, but there are some crazy stories about the then owner of Qupe and other brands and how he found himself in jail (gasp). The ownership might have been corporate in 2020, the mistakes certainly were, but if you ever get the chance to meet those who had the autonomy to forge vineyard relationships and make the wines during the VWE years you might think differently…Blake and Dustin and their cellar team could not have been any better…they were steering the wines into new directions, but as far as the Central Coast bottlings were concerned, they were using better fruit than ever went into a Qupe Central Coast…crazy good stuff and we are proud to take those relationships forward and to slowly move the Qupe Central Coast into the future. My own brand makes a wine called Syrah Tous les Jours that was largely inspired by the Central Coast Qupe Syrah…the Qupe brand was always 2-4 times bigger than our own. AMV is a bit bigger now, but we plan on pouring lots of resources into Qupe to make sure it lives on as a preeminent producer of cool climate Syrah and Chardonnay (among others). In conclusion, I would argue that the Central Coast is way better than it was in 2014…and only time will tell about the 2020. It is a riper style from a riper vintage than 2014, so it ,may not live as long…but it is pretty darn delicious right now, and there is something great about that too.
@ovad2 fyi different winemaker and owner not sure what impact this has on the wine but important to note. Lindquist made the magnums and a corporate winemaker made current offer
Wrong and Right! True, Lindquist had nothing to do with these bottles. I had nothing to do with the 2020 Bien Nacido…but we had a lot to do with the 2022 Central Coast. We bought these barrel lots and moved them to the winery, tasted through them and blended them to our standards and then bottled them at our facility (as I have said repeatedly above, it is a bit easy to hate on VWE since they were corporate and made so many mistakes, but the winemaking team at Laetitia in charge of these wines were salt of the earth, talented winemakers who have since become valued colleagues and friends)…so yeah, we had a small part to play and we think an important part. And, for the record, we dis-included more barrels and lots from the final blend that I originally had hoped. We had to cull about 10% or more…so, we were also quite selective. Lots of folks have lots of ideas about Qupe…I am an open book…happy to answer just about anything. 2024 was our first full vintage that will take us from vineyard to bottle. We are bottling the 2024 Chardonnay next week (spoiler alert, there is a large amount of stunning Sta Rita Hills in this wine and the 2025 will see us moving to Sta Rita Hills almost exclusively…in fact the only fruit not from Sta Rita in the 2025 will be from an area just north and west of the SRH…cool, cold climate Chardonnay, sandy, limestone rich soils…my mouth is watering just thinking about it. The Syrah has been about 50-60% Arroyo Grande Syrah from an organic site, and the balance from various cool climate spots near us - Nolan Vineyard in Alisos Canyon is a notable spot and one of my favorite local newer vineyears, as well as some from Ballard Canyon, and even a bit of Syrah from my own Estate - I never knew this fruit went to Qupe…we sold it to VWE and I honestly had no idea that I was going to one day see our own fruit in a Qupe bottling. We have just planted 2 acres each of Marsanne and Clairette at our vineyard, hoping to bring these wines back into the fold of Qupe in the not too distant future. Anyhow, we have lots and lots of plans…we are just thankful most folks have been keeping an open mind. We have a long way to go and a lot to prove, but we are up to the task and we are as energized as ever. Stay tuned (please and thanks)
I am signing off for the eve…ask me anything and thank you to everyone who is interested in this offering. I have an early day of bottling tomorrow and I will not be by a computer very much. But, we will have a wine soaked lunch tomorrow and hopefully I will be able to return here before the offer is over during lunch.
@AndrewMurray thank you SO much for your participation, your candor and your willingness to engage with us dummies. Very happy with your stewardship and the opportunity to buy and more importantly drink these wines. Syrah is #1 for me.
@jrbw3 I have never met a dummy here. I love this forum and this platform. I am proud to be able to offer these wines and I stand behind them 100%. These wines are in the marketplace or about to enter the marketplace at much higher prices, so I love to see folks taking advantage of this limited steal. Thank you all for having me and our wines on Casemates. BTW, the Casemates overlords are relentless in their pursuit of great wines at silly prices…they hit us up all the time…we are fortunate that we usually politely decline…but they caught me in a tired, delirious and slightly bourbon soaked haze when I agreed to these 2 Qupe beauties. I did not even make note of the price that they were going to go out at…truly hope I don’t make any wine shops unhappy…
/giphy flaky-numerous-language
Caved for a 6 pack. Drank a 2014 Bien Nacido Hillside (750) from the Magnum offer in November a few weeks ago that was stellar.
@pjmartin Love it - thank you! I likewise appreciated the 2014’s…Casemates community took nearly the entire 2014 vintage library bottles, so I don’t have too many left in my own personal cellar.
@jaxboating thanks so much for visiting back in June. If you are ever back this way, please ask to say hello. Love to thank you in person. Appreciate the support. Hope you enjoy these beautiful Syrah bottles.
2020 Qupé Syrah, Bien Nacido Hillside Estate, Santa Maria Valley
Tasting Notes
Vineyard
This wine is 100% Syrah from the Z Block at Bien Nacido Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley. Z Block was our first “custom” planting at Bien Nacido, planted in 1992 on a perfect southwest-facing hillside.
Winemaking
We used time-tested, traditional winemaking techniques … open top fermenters … 25% whole clusters … and manual punch down twice a day until the fermentation is dry. With this Syrah, I also do a small portion (about 10-12%) of saignee barrel fermentation, which gives the wine a nice toasty, mocha aspect.
After pressing, the wine was aged for 24 months in French Oak Burgundy barrels. For the first year in, about 40% new barrels then racked, blended, and returned to neutral barrels for the additional time. I then selected my favorite 18 barrels and bottled.
Specs
2022 Qupé Syrah, Central Coast
90 Points, Vinous
90 Points, Jeb Dunnuck
Tasting Notes
Vineyard
Winemaking
Specs
What’s Included
6-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
Not for sale on winery website, $376/case MSRP
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Oct 6 - Tuesday, Oct 7
Qupé Syrah
6 bottles for $69.99 $11.67/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $129.99 $10.83/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2020 Qupé Syrah, Bien Nacido Hillside Estate
2022 Qupé Syrah, Central Coast
2020 Qupé Syrah Santa Maria Valley Bien Nacido Hillside Estate
Pretty exciting to have a Qupé Syrah to review! We still have 3 magnums from a (much) earlier Casemates offer of 2008-2013 Syrahs. We enjoyed what we had opened, so this one was a welcomed opportunity.
This wine is definitely one to consider for those who like Syrah.
First pour: Bottle was chilled and opened to breathe for about twenty minutes. Serving temp was right at 66°. Composite cork showed very little staining, with very little penetration. Color is a very inky purple. I was tempted to put ‘aubergine’, but it’s darker than that. The nose was definitely a sumptuous dark fruit (boysenberry/blackberry), forest floor, and spice. Swirling the glass yielded long quick legs. ABV is listed at 14.5%.
Fist sips backed up the aromas. Black fruits are dominant, slight alcohol that fades quickly. Woodsy with some floral and peppery notes on the palate that follow. Nice tannins that were not overwhelming. Mrs. Rat called out black raspberry with a little bit of smokey oak and plum. This is a very flavorful Syrah.
Initial pairings: with Gouda this was a great match., the Gouda softened and complimented the tannins. Cheddar, not quite as ideal, as expected, the sharpness wasn’t an ideal match. Trying the 72% cacao chocolates was good- but not as nice as the match with the Gouda.
Main course for the evening was some Amish chicken with bbq sauce on bakery buns with roasted Parmesan rosemary (from the garden) potatoes. This matched up well with the Syrah.
With the main course served, I considered what could we do for a Syrah comparison. The 3 magnums of Qupé were way too much for two. But- I knew we had a case of mixed Andrew Murray wines in the cellar. With that in mind, I selected a 2018 Tous les Jours Santa Ynes Valley to pop open. The two wines are clearly Syrah, but definitely different. The AM was very smooth. The Qupé matched better with the Gouda, the AM better with the bbq sauce of the chicken. It was hard to pick which was better.
We were very glad to see Qupé picked up by Andrew Murray, as we enjoyed the prior and now current wines. No hesitation in recommending this bottling for those looking for a flavorful Syrah! At the case price, an exceptional deal!
Thank you Casemates and Qupé for this offer!
@benguin986 I wasn’t expecting this offer to have both the Central Coast and the Bien Nacido. I love love Bien Nacido. Great review!
@benguin986
Thank you so much for the thoughtful reportage… and so humbled that you are expecting good things from our stewardship. We are are quite proud to help bring Qupe soon into it’s 4th decade
@AndrewMurray Andrew, a sincere ‘thank you’ for your very active participation on the site! It really is helpful and informative on many levels. Hope we can get out to CA and visit the winery in the near future!
I feel so late being the second rat! Yeek!!
Greetings!
I’m excited to finally try 2022 Qupe Syrah. I’ve had a number of Qupe bottlings in the past, but i haven’t had any from the Andrew Murray era. Here we go!
Nose: dusty, pencils, cedar. It doesn’t come out as fruity, but more savory and woodsy. I’m not getting a lot of bacon/olive character either. This is definitely “tobacco box” / “pencil shaving” territory. Pretty short on the nose too.
It has a nice mouthfeel, but does end pretty quickly. Back with the dust and earth, lavender, and green peppercorn. Also i’m getting the zip of an underripe blackberry. It definitely fills the mouth with flavor, and it’s got a good lingering finish – much longer than it is on the nose.
With some air it started to develop the brininess i like from cold climate Syrah. As it is bottled under screw cap, i suspect it will continue to develop over the evening while it gets some air.
I like it.
A lot, in fact. Syrah has been my go-to “popular” variety for a long while, and this is a good bottle. It’s bright and tangy. It worked great with a herby pizza i made, but it’s also showing good stuff without food as i write this.
@radiolysis Thanks for taking the time to report back your thoughts. We are quite proud of this bottling. It is our first since we took over…we are already garnering press and attention for the future vintages, but this 2022 is super solid. It was started by the very able team at Laetitia in Arroyo Grande and this is the wine that I tasted in barrel and fell in love with and knew that I had to bring Qupe home to Los Olivos. It is still young, and it has a fun medium term life ahead - and it represents a silly value in the world of wine. The fruit is either organic certified or SIP certified fruit from Arroyo Grande, Santa Maria and Los Olivos (my own backyard). These are long term partnerships that we were able to bring forward into our ownership. These are early days, but we are especially bullish about Qupe and hopefully slowly bringing a bit of the old Bob Lindquist style luster back to this legacy brand.
@AndrewMurray awesome! Side note, always loved the Laetitia sparkling when i lived up in SLO.
POPSOCKETS! ROAD ROCKETS! SONNY CROCKETT! AWESOME!
Anyone know who the winemaker(s) is/are?
@losthighwayz Not sure I care!
/giphy gripping-able-stranger
@losthighwayz Great question. I am seeing these questions late in the day since we were sampling grapes in the dark this morning for Qupe Chardonnay in Sta Rita Hills (picking next week
then blending wine to be bottled next week while also preparing to bottle tomorrow and Friday. Yikes, these are crazy days. But, back to your question, the 2020 and 2022 vintage wines were made up at Laetitia by the very talented Blake Kuhn…an amazing and thoughtful winemaker and his team. I believe Dustin Hickey was also making the wine at the same time. When we learned of the chance to acquire the Qupe brand, we were met with open arms and the opportunity to taste as many barrels as we wanted. We fell in love with these wines and were pinching ourselves that this deal could possibly happen. Andrew Murray Vineyards is a small family brand and we are not in the business of M and A - heck, I barely knew what that meant a year ago. But, I grew up next to where Qupe started, I grew up in the shadow of Bob Lindquist and his rhone centric passion and success. I have always looked up to him and admired Qupe. I cannot properly express in words how much it meant to me to have the chance to acquire Qupe. It has been nothing short of challenging, but I have always loved a good challenge and I look forward to further integrating Qupe into our own winery facility from now into the future. We crafted the 2024 vintage from grape on and the 2020 through 2023 vintages were started at Laetitia and slowly finished by us in our own winery and bottled by us using our own facility…stay tuned and hold us accountable. We hope you love where Qupe is heading
Love this deal. Andrew Murray endorsed!
@Winedavid49
but was he the winemaker?
and will he be visiting the chat?
@Winedavid49 are these AM wines or from the old regime?
@losthighwayz @Winedavid49 Would not be the old regime.
@hscottk @losthighwayz @Winedavid49 winemaker would be from the Vintage Wine Estates corporate era…whoever that was…of course that doesn’t answer your question
@rjquillin @Winedavid49 Sorry, late to the party and I have now answered the questions about winemaking. I hope you can see answers above. We did not have anything to do with the 2020 Bien Nacido HE, but I love this wine and this fabled block on this amazing vineyard. This wine was part of the reason I was confident in our purchase of Qupe. As far as the 2022 Central Coast, I was able to bring these barrels from Laetitia to our winery, taste through them, pick my favorite, and blend them to our tastes and bottle them. We are super proud of the 2022, our first bottling (even if we didnt actually pick or make the wine). I tasted through every lot of wine prior to going after Qupe…as much as I loved the history of the brand and wanted to preserve a Rhone Centric legacy founded by our friend Bob Lindquist, I fell in love with these wines and knew we could finish them to our liking. The team at Laetitia did an amazing job. Qupe’s challenges had nothing to do with them, their problems started and ended at the corporate level…the boots on the ground people are now friends and esteemed colleagues. We are quite proud to have the opportunity to finish these wines in our own cellar and send them out to the world. BTW, the 2022 is really just about to hit the market in California…it has been sold in some markets outside of CA…so this is a first and early look at this wine.
In for a Case, thanks WineDavid!!
rough-marginal-centaur
@PLSemenza
Thank you so very much. We are so proud and excited to be carrying the torch for Qupe and bringing one of my favorite brands into the future. Thank you for the thoughtful rattage. So Glad that you enjoyed this bottle.
@PLSemenza I am a tired idiot, I thought i was replying to a lab rat report…thus my comments about being thankful that you enjoyed the wine. I should have said that I very much appreciate you taking a chance and I HOPE you enjoy the wines…because I do. Thank you!
@AndrewMurray
I understand perfectly, been super busy working those 26 hour days.
But a little context: our 1st wine Club ever was Fess Parker 1989, great champion of Santa Ynez wines. When we met Fess, and said you Pinot & Syrah wines were great. He side, “I appreciate that; you have to try the Foxen Pinot & the Qupe Syrah, they are Awesome.” What a Guy!! so that was 2nd & 3rd we joined. Several autografted bottles and a personal ride in his Hummer later. My Bride & I had our honeymoon at the Ballard Inn, mountain room. That was 1994.
Thank you for saving the ‘Qupe Brand’ it means so much to us. Cathy & Paul.
PS: Qupé Syrah - Tall & Small Combo
Quantity: 1 4-bottles Order: robust-obedient-hill
EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!
tried to order in multiple browsers, but is site broken? clicking order button just moves the page a few pixels.
@soupdevil
There are multiple sales. Perhaps try from a different device?
Reboot?
@soupdevil same issue. I changed my address, and then changed it back, and it worked for me.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
Qupé Syrah - $10 = 7.14%
Love to see the ability to purchase 6 bottles for so close to the case price per bottle. Made buying the smaller amount so much easier.
@gtcharlie Me agreeing with you 7.14%!
Also,looks like Thanksgiving-themed order names are here:
/giphy solid-wavy-turkey
Lots of info out there, but an article about the acquisition here
That Dunnuck review on the 2022:
90 points. Juicy blackberries, pepper, violets, and some gamey, underbrush notes all emerge from the 2022 Syrah Central Coast, a 90% destemmed Syrah aged 22 months in 100% new French oak with 10% new. Medium-bodied, juicy, and silky on the palate, with tons of charm, as well as classic, impeccably made Syrah character, it should have a solid 5-7 years of longevity. Drink 2025-2030 9/4/2025
'bout it
fwiw
@kaolis
I’m having difficulty in parsing this fragment
@rjquillin ah, good catch…without looking around and if I was a gamblin’ man, which I am not, I’m guessing mayhaps 100% French oak, 10% new
@kaolis
Now that you mention that, I do think I read, somewhere, something similar to what you describe. Or was it that later went into 90% neutral and 10% new after racking…
as @kaolis says “fwiw”
@kaolis @rjquillin That error was not lost on us…100% French Oak, 10% new is how it should have read, but I believe that is a direct quote. Small, silly error. Please all, this wine was NOT aged in 100% new French Oak…that is not the intent of this wine and should likely not be intent of any wine. This made me chuckle as I had not realized that is what the review actually said…
Great backstory on Mr. Murray purchasing Qupe. Can be found in the comments for the magnum sale or probably google search.
Speaking of Magnums, I have 2 from the said previous offering. Whole family (9 of us) are heading out to visit my daughters newborn. I think I’m going to bring the Qupe magnum, seems like the right time.
Have to pass on this offering, had to look at my order history to remember what’s inside the unopened boxes that is not yet racked or 'Fridged.
@forlich Thank you so much. I hope those Magnums deliver immense enjoyment to you and your family. We have a very fun library of wine that came over with the sale (who knows maybe the Casemates Overlords might consider another ?) Until then, I drink these 10+ year old magnums as often as I can and toast our unbelievable luck that no one bid against me in the auction for Qupe…
@AndrewMurray know this is crazy season good luck with the vintage.
We will be evaluating the Qupe Syrah against the recently closed Onesta Syrah, like you Jillian Johnson Deleon is no slouch in winemaking. Her Cinsault was a family favorite. We are not wine experts but ive turned my kids into “Wine-ees” by sharing a lot of casemates wine with stories of the wine makers, varietals they never tried, brands we dont often see back east. Family + Meals with Wine = beautiful times
Hope to see you here again soon enjoy both your AM Vinyards and E11even bottlings which i dont see in North NJ.
I got a 2014 in my mystery case, so I got it out today and let it breathe for a couple of hours, and it is delicious. I’d say this is a great deal .
@dianefreda magnums from when Lindquist owned and produced Qupe wines vs today’s offer from their corporate era
@dianefreda @losthighwayz
True about the 2014 vs the 2020, but there are some crazy stories about the then owner of Qupe and other brands and how he found himself in jail (gasp). The ownership might have been corporate in 2020, the mistakes certainly were, but if you ever get the chance to meet those who had the autonomy to forge vineyard relationships and make the wines during the VWE years you might think differently…Blake and Dustin and their cellar team could not have been any better…they were steering the wines into new directions, but as far as the Central Coast bottlings were concerned, they were using better fruit than ever went into a Qupe Central Coast…crazy good stuff and we are proud to take those relationships forward and to slowly move the Qupe Central Coast into the future. My own brand makes a wine called Syrah Tous les Jours that was largely inspired by the Central Coast Qupe Syrah…the Qupe brand was always 2-4 times bigger than our own. AMV is a bit bigger now, but we plan on pouring lots of resources into Qupe to make sure it lives on as a preeminent producer of cool climate Syrah and Chardonnay (among others). In conclusion, I would argue that the Central Coast is way better than it was in 2014…and only time will tell about the 2020. It is a riper style from a riper vintage than 2014, so it ,may not live as long…but it is pretty darn delicious right now, and there is something great about that too.
Loved what I’ve tasted from that magnum offer!
/giphy actual-whole-head
@ovad2 fyi different winemaker and owner not sure what impact this has on the wine but important to note. Lindquist made the magnums and a corporate winemaker made current offer
/giphy screeching-smooth-guitar
My question was never answered directly but for the record neither Andrew Murray nor Lindquist had anything to do with these bottles.
@losthighwayz
Wrong and Right! True, Lindquist had nothing to do with these bottles. I had nothing to do with the 2020 Bien Nacido…but we had a lot to do with the 2022 Central Coast. We bought these barrel lots and moved them to the winery, tasted through them and blended them to our standards and then bottled them at our facility (as I have said repeatedly above, it is a bit easy to hate on VWE since they were corporate and made so many mistakes, but the winemaking team at Laetitia in charge of these wines were salt of the earth, talented winemakers who have since become valued colleagues and friends)…so yeah, we had a small part to play and we think an important part. And, for the record, we dis-included more barrels and lots from the final blend that I originally had hoped. We had to cull about 10% or more…so, we were also quite selective. Lots of folks have lots of ideas about Qupe…I am an open book…happy to answer just about anything. 2024 was our first full vintage that will take us from vineyard to bottle. We are bottling the 2024 Chardonnay next week (spoiler alert, there is a large amount of stunning Sta Rita Hills in this wine and the 2025 will see us moving to Sta Rita Hills almost exclusively…in fact the only fruit not from Sta Rita in the 2025 will be from an area just north and west of the SRH…cool, cold climate Chardonnay, sandy, limestone rich soils…my mouth is watering just thinking about it. The Syrah has been about 50-60% Arroyo Grande Syrah from an organic site, and the balance from various cool climate spots near us - Nolan Vineyard in Alisos Canyon is a notable spot and one of my favorite local newer vineyears, as well as some from Ballard Canyon, and even a bit of Syrah from my own Estate - I never knew this fruit went to Qupe…we sold it to VWE and I honestly had no idea that I was going to one day see our own fruit in a Qupe bottling. We have just planted 2 acres each of Marsanne and Clairette at our vineyard, hoping to bring these wines back into the fold of Qupe in the not too distant future. Anyhow, we have lots and lots of plans…we are just thankful most folks have been keeping an open mind. We have a long way to go and a lot to prove, but we are up to the task and we are as energized as ever. Stay tuned (please and thanks)
No IA?? Such a bummer… who do I need to talk to?!?
I am signing off for the eve…ask me anything and thank you to everyone who is interested in this offering. I have an early day of bottling tomorrow and I will not be by a computer very much. But, we will have a wine soaked lunch tomorrow and hopefully I will be able to return here before the offer is over during lunch.
@AndrewMurray thank you SO much for your participation, your candor and your willingness to engage with us dummies. Very happy with your stewardship and the opportunity to buy and more importantly drink these wines. Syrah is #1 for me.
@jrbw3 I have never met a dummy here. I love this forum and this platform. I am proud to be able to offer these wines and I stand behind them 100%. These wines are in the marketplace or about to enter the marketplace at much higher prices, so I love to see folks taking advantage of this limited steal. Thank you all for having me and our wines on Casemates. BTW, the Casemates overlords are relentless in their pursuit of great wines at silly prices…they hit us up all the time…we are fortunate that we usually politely decline…but they caught me in a tired, delirious and slightly bourbon soaked haze when I agreed to these 2 Qupe beauties. I did not even make note of the price that they were going to go out at…truly hope I don’t make any wine shops unhappy…
@AndrewMurray @jrbw3
Absolutely Classic!
Loved all the Andrew Murry wine I’ve tried. Too much wine and no room, but in for 6.
/giphy brawny-baleful-lion
@Springbank Oh no…sorry to your bank and your storage…Thank you so very much!
/giphy flaky-numerous-language
Caved for a 6 pack. Drank a 2014 Bien Nacido Hillside (750) from the Magnum offer in November a few weeks ago that was stellar.
@pjmartin Love it - thank you! I likewise appreciated the 2014’s…Casemates community took nearly the entire 2014 vintage library bottles, so I don’t have too many left in my own personal cellar.
/giphy potent-venerable-income
Absolutely love old Qupe so I will get a case and trust the rats and Winedavid!
@DJZachAttack Hope you love the newer Qupe as much…please let us know what you think when you finally open some bottles.
I am so excited about this deal! Was able to spend a some time in your tasting room in Los Olivos back in June.
/giphy cursed-gregarious-lamp
@jaxboating thanks so much for visiting back in June. If you are ever back this way, please ask to say hello. Love to thank you in person. Appreciate the support. Hope you enjoy these beautiful Syrah bottles.