Last week I had the chance to sit down with Kate MacMurray, proprietor of Sonoma’s MacMurray Ranch winery, and sample three of her new releases.
If you’re not familiar with MacMurray Ranch wines, more’s the pity, because although it’s a winery that has somehow managed to escape widespread notice, it consistently turns out wines that combine California’s ripe, succulent fruit with a very European sense of balance and terroir.
I’ve been a big fan of MacMurray Ranch Pinot Noirs for years, especially their “entry level†Central Coast Pinot, a wine of California lushness and Burgundian restraint that drinks far better than its $23 price tag. What I hadn’t tasted before is MacMurray’s Sonoma Coast Pinot Gris, another varietal with its roots in Burgundy (now the premier grape of Alsace).
This is a wine that is made for South Florida weather, with a rich, creamy mouthfeel, abundant fruit that tastes of peaches and melon and a hint of mango, yet with a crisp acid backbone and tangy citrus finish. It would pour equally well with a piece of simply grilled fish as it would spicy Asian and Latin seafood or chicken dishes. And at $20 it’s an excellent value.
BTW, if the name MacMurray seems to ring a bell and you’re as much of an antique as I am, the property that is now the MacMurray winery was first purchased in 1941 by the actor Fred MacMurray, whom you just might remember from the TV show My Three Sons. Kate is his daughter, and she’s done the old man proud.
