Tasting Room Dreams: Jennie's Quest for Wine Interaction Pt. 5
Join Forrest Kelly & Doug Vincent on the Best 5 Minute Wine Podcast as they chat with Jennie Murphy, the owner and winemaker of Oxlee Graham Wines. Jenny shares her journey in the wine industry, highlighting her commitment to crafting unique wines inspired by the women in her life, particularly her flagship Dale's Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. As a new player in the market, she discusses her efforts to engage with the community through various events and tastings, and her plans to move into a new space that will include a tasting room for direct interactions with wine lovers. Listeners will also learn about her dedication to hands-on winemaking and the importance of access to her wines. Jennie's passion for her craft shines through as she invites everyone to explore her wines, emphasizing that each bottle tells a story and celebrates female inspiration in the winemaking world.
Your Host: Forrest Kelly is an experienced Radio/TV broadcaster who has interviewed some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities, from Garth Brooks to Kevin Costner. A lover of wine who is fascinated by the science behind it.
Voted One of The Best Travel, Top 5 Minute, and Top Wine Podcasts.
Takeaways:
- Jennie Murphy emphasizes the importance of hosting events to engage with wine enthusiasts.
- The Dale's Pinot Noir is Jennie's signature wine, inspired by her mother.
- Jenny discusses her transition to a new space for better wine production access.
- Upcoming events include collaborations with local wine shops and anniversary celebrations.
- Oxlee Graham Wines aims to expand distribution beyond Northern California to Southern California.
- Jenny highlights her hands-on approach to winemaking, performing all her own analyses.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Oxlee Graham Wines
- Paul Hobbs
Speaker A
Welcome.
Speaker A
Welcome to the Best five Men in.
Speaker B
Wine podcast with Forrest Kelly, owner and winemaker Jenny Murphy of Oxley Graham Wines.
Speaker A
Yeah, so easiest way to kind of get the wines is to order straight through the website, which is Best five Minute Wine podcast.
Speaker B
So I see an events part.
Speaker B
Are you branching out to try to participate in events?
Speaker A
Yeah, so part of being new is just getting that kind of foothold and getting people to interact with the wines and meeting new people.
Speaker A
And so I really am trying to book a lot of events, a lot of accounts that I've visited.
Speaker A
You know, wine shops, wine bars, they've been really receptive to the wines, really excited about the wines.
Speaker A
And so there's a great shop in Sacramento that has been so happy to host us.
Speaker A
And we have a couple events lined up with them.
Speaker A
Yonex, they're wonderful.
Speaker A
They're also women owned and so that's really fun.
Speaker A
And just kind of big wine events that.
Speaker A
Willow Glen is my hometown in San Jose, so I love doing that event, kind of meeting people.
Speaker A
There's an anniversary event I'm doing in October that is a huge supporter of mine, another wine shop in San Jose.
Speaker A
So kind of a dappling of different things, but just trying to get people to interact with the wines is kind of the goal with the events.
Speaker B
Do you ever get down to the Inland Empire, the Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Riverside area?
Speaker A
I just did my first trip down to LA with the wines in June and I didn't get that far east.
Speaker B
If you're still.
Speaker B
We'll, we'll keep you in touch.
Speaker B
But Doug and I participate in a Brew Abilities is what it's called.
Speaker B
And so this coming year when they have their events, we'll reach out to you, see if you want to come down and enjoy the show.
Speaker A
Yeah, that'd be great.
Speaker B
What's.
Speaker B
What is your space?
Speaker B
You're in the current space and you said you're moving space.
Speaker B
Is it because of money or you're expanding or what?
Speaker B
Tell us about that.
Speaker A
Yeah, so part of being small is, you know, you are using I Custom Crush is what it's called.
Speaker A
And so I use somebody else's space.
Speaker A
I basically rent out some space.
Speaker A
And one of my big pushes for moving to the new space is that I will have access to a tasting room so then I can host people and by appointment host some events and some tastings.
Speaker A
And so that's kind of huge again, as a push for a small brand is to kind of get people to interact with the wine.
Speaker A
So that's kind of the Big impetus to move is the access to the tasting room.
Speaker A
The little bit more of a co opy space and I'll have a little more access to the wines.
Speaker A
So that's kind of the push.
Speaker A
I'm a very hands on winemaker, so I like to be there and work with the wines.
Speaker A
And I do all my own analysis still.
Speaker A
I have my little mobile lab I bring with me everywhere.
Speaker A
So that's something just to have access to the building and kind of off hours that, that helps a lot as a winemaker, like me, that has a busy schedule.
Speaker A
But the new space is going to be in what we call coffee park here in Santa Rosa.
Speaker A
And there's a lot of wineries and breweries and different things kind of within the complex.
Speaker A
So it'll be a good kind of space to get some foot traffic, I hope.
Speaker B
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B
And then you might have to hire somebody to help you out with a tasting.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
Besides family where to get your wines, I noticed.
Speaker B
There you go.
Speaker B
Physical locations are mostly centered around Northern California.
Speaker A
Anywhere else.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
So easiest way to kind of get the wines is to order straight through the website, which is oxley, oxley grahamwines.com and then on the website there's also a tab that shows the Find us under the events and you can see where we are placed.
Speaker A
And we are mostly in Northern California, Bay area right now.
Speaker A
I am hoping there will be some Southern California shops that will pick us up after my last visit so that those will get added as they get placed.
Speaker A
But it shows where the wines are, what wines are, where.
Speaker A
So those are kind of the two best resources.
Speaker B
Alrighty, let's get, let's get your web address again, your insta handle and maybe a phone number as well.
Speaker B
And then if somebody is intrigued and says, okay, these hundred point wines, I want to taste one.
Speaker B
What would you say this is the one you gotta taste you're most proud of.
Speaker A
So our kind of calling card on the website is our Dale's Pinot Noir.
Speaker A
It's named after my mother.
Speaker A
So each of the wines also carries the name of a woman that's been inspirational to me.
Speaker A
So the Dale's Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is sort of our calling card, what you'll see most out in the wild, as I say.
Speaker A
So that really captures, you know, the nuance, the complexity, kind of the velvety tannin that I like to extract from the Pinot Noir.
Speaker A
So that's probably the best intro to everything we do to my pedigree, all of that.
Speaker A
But really any of the wines are going to be fantastic.
Speaker A
And the petit verdot is something that when I started the winery, I knew I was making petit Bordeaux.
Speaker A
That's the thing I looked for the hardest to find.
Speaker A
Kind of a special site to make that wine.
Speaker A
It's a wine I used to make as a blender at Paul Hobbs and always thought it deserved its own bottling.
Speaker A
So that wine I'm super proud of, and I think it's really fantastic.
Speaker A
Those are probably the two I would jump on the website and order first, but the white has been super popular, especially with the warmer weather we've been having in California.
Speaker A
So they're all good.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
Okay.
Speaker A
Okay.
Speaker A
So Our website is oxleygramwines.com that's O X L E E gram wines.com Our Instagram is oxleygramwines and our phone number is 707-852-4030.
Speaker B
Awesome, Jenny.
Speaker A
Yeah, no problem.
Speaker A
Thank you both.
Speaker B
From solving yarn to my lo we look for adventure at wineries around the globe of that's why podcast please like and follow.
Jennie Murphy
Owner
After graduating from UC Davis with a degree in Chemistry, Jennie had plans to go in to forensics. Due to a bad economy when she graduated, she had to find a plan B and so took an internship at Korbel Champagne Cellars. She was immediately taken with how winemaking melded art, science, nature and humanity together - she was hooked. Her next opportunity came in the form of an Enologist position at Paul Hobbs Winery, where she was tasked with updating the lab protocols and instruments. As she grew from lab to winemaking roles, she absorbed every lesson and focused on every detail. It was an amazing opportunity to work with world class vineyards and craft multiple wines that garnered 100-point scores from critics. She departed from her role as Director of Winemaking for Paul Hobbs in 2022, after a twelve-year career with the winery, in order to focus on the OG Oxlee Graham Wines. The new label focuses on winemaking areas that exemplify a creative and individualistic spirit.
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