Andrew Murray, owner of his namesake label for more than three decades, has acquired Qupe, another historically significant brand famed for its cool-climate syrah and chardonnay.
Qupe was founded by another Santa Barbara County winemaking pioneer, Bob Lindquist, who built his brand from cool-climate syrah and chardonnay sourced from esteemed vineyards, among them Bien Nacido, east of Santa Maria. Qupe produces 20,000 cases annually.
In 2018, Vintage Wine Estates purchased Qupe and several other brands, adding to a growing portfolio founded by Pat Roney and Leslie Rudd in 2000, when they acquired Girard Winery, according to winebusiness.com. In the years since their launch, the duo acquired 28 labels.
In August, Vintage Wine Estates filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing $475 million in assets and $400 million in liabilities. The company owes $310 million to BMO Bank, which acquired Bank of the West.
After he sold Qupe, Lindquist rebranded his label as Lindquist Family Wines and has a tasting room in Arroyo Grande.
Murray took over Qupe on Oct. 2 and already has secured many of the same vineyard sources for this year, according to a news release. He will bottle his first Qupe wines come November.
“We’re bringing (Qupe) back home — just a stone’s throw from where Bob conceived and crafted his first vintage of Qupe over 40 years ago. I am deeply moved and excited about the future of Qupe,” Murray said.
Murray’s two labels, the Rhone-based Andrew Murray and the Bordeaux-inspired E11even Wines, draw fruit from the breezy, cool-climate east-west valleys along California’s Central Coast, including the Santa Maria Valley, the Los Alamos Valley, the Sta. Rita Hills, the Santa Ynez Valley, the Arroyo Grande Valley and the Edna Valley.
Qupe “has resonated with consumers on a national level for decades,” Murray said. “I used to be haunted by their success because they would often out-perform us in the market. So, to say it’s an honor to now own Qupe, a legacy brand, is the understatement of all understatements. We’re confident we can carry Qupe’s reputation for balanced, delicious wines into the future, while adding our own creative expression to this inimitable wine brand.”
Murray’s original label has its own successful reputation. After he founded Andrew Murray Wines in 1990, his wines earned critical acclaim, with Murray even featured on the cover of Food & Wine magazine.
Murray hopes to preserve the core sensibilities of Qupe — site-driven wines of balance, made thoughtfully with minimal intervention, and always with the customer in mind.
“I am inspired by vintage variation and wines of terroir, as Bob was. But, just like him, I’m also very aware of the customer’s need for consistency and quality,” he said. “Qupe has always been a brand one can rely on for wines of pleasurable restraint, and I don’t intend on changing that.”