United States · Napa

Andremily Wines

Small-production Syrah-dominant Rhône blends from a 39-acre Edna Valley estate, released once a year by a winemaker who spent twelve years at Sine Qua Non.

The producer

Jim Binns founded Andremily in 2012, naming the label after his two children, Andrew and Emily. He had spent twelve years, from 2006 to 2017, as assistant winemaker at Sine Qua Non, the Santa Barbara operation Manfred Krankl built into one of California's most closely followed small-production Rhône labels. Binns left with a clear idea of what he wanted to make: a Syrah-led blend in the Southern Rhône tradition, grown on California's Central Coast, released in small quantities on a single annual schedule.

For eight years Andremily ran on purchased fruit. In 2020, Binns bought Slide Hill Vineyard in Edna Valley, a 39-acre property across three rolling hills and a meadow, with varying slopes, soil types, and exposures in San Luis Obispo County. The purchase converted the label from a winemaking project dependent on contract growers into a true estate. EABA, the listed Syrah-Mourvèdre-Grenache blend, is the only wine. Its grape proportions shift from vintage to vintage, following what each year delivers from the vineyard rather than holding to a fixed recipe.

Known for

Vintage-variable Syrah-dominant Rhône blends; single annual release, estate-grown from Slide Hill Vineyard in Edna Valley since 2020.

Notable facts

The story

Thirty-Nine Acres

In 2020, eight years after launching Andremily on purchased fruit, Jim Binns bought Slide Hill Vineyard in Edna Valley. The property came with 39 planted acres spread across three rolling hills and a connecting meadow, each hill facing a different direction, each carrying different soils. For those eight years, Binns could shape EABA in the cellar but had limited say over what happened in the vineyard before harvest. He worked with growers, maintained relationships, and adjusted the blend based on what each contract delivered. Slide Hill ended that arrangement. With one property purchase, Binns became the person walking the rows before picking decisions, watching the fruit through the growing season, and controlling every choice from vine to bottle. The mailing-list label built on a winemaker's reputation became, in a single transaction, a genuine estate.

Thirty-Nine Acres

In 2020, eight years after launching Andremily on purchased fruit, Jim Binns bought Slide Hill Vineyard in Edna Valley. The property came with 39 planted acres spread across three rolling hills and a connecting meadow, each hill facing a different direction, each carrying different soils. For those eight years, Binns could shape EABA in the cellar but had limited say over what happened in the vineyard before harvest. He worked with growers, maintained relationships, and adjusted the blend based on what each contract delivered. Slide Hill ended that arrangement. With one property purchase, Binns became the person walking the rows before picking decisions, watching the fruit through the growing season, and controlling every choice from vine to bottle. The mailing-list label built on a winemaker's reputation became, in a single transaction, a genuine estate.

From the atlas

Andremily Wines

At A Glance

The Producer

Jim Binns spent twelve years, from 2006 to 2017, as assistant winemaker at Sine Qua Non, the Santa Barbara label that Manfred Krankl built into one of California's most closely followed small-production Rhône operations. When Binns left to start his own label in 2012, he named it after his two children, Andrew and Emily, compressing their names into a single word: Andremily.

For the first eight years, Andremily ran on purchased fruit. In 2020, Binns bought Slide Hill Vineyard in Edna Valley, a 39-acre property across three rolling hills and a meadow, with varying slopes, soil types, and exposures. The purchase converted Andremily from a label working with contract growers into an estate with direct control over its fruit. The listed wine, EABA, is a Syrah-led Rhône blend whose grape proportions shift from vintage to vintage. It is the only wine in the range.

Place

Edna Valley is an American Viticultural Area in San Luis Obispo County, roughly midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on California's Central Coast. The valley sits close to the Pacific, and the cool marine air from the Pacific extends the growing season and slows ripening. For Rhône varieties, that slower accumulation of sugar and flavour means Syrah and Mourvèdre hold their dark fruit and pepper character without losing freshness.

Slide Hill Vineyard occupies three hills and a connecting meadow within the AVA. The varied slopes and orientations within those 39 acres give Binns different ripening windows and soil exposures across the property, which feeds directly into how the EABA blend is assembled each year.

Soil And Site

Slide Hill Vineyard runs across rolling terrain with a range of aspects. The three hills face different directions, and the soils vary across the property. Edna Valley's soils vary across the property, reflecting the valley's coastal position and geological history. The varied slopes mean parts of the vineyard warm and drain differently, contributing to the vintage-by-vintage variation in how Binns weights the blend.

Story

Binns launched Andremily in 2012 while still building his reputation from his years at Sine Qua Non. Working with purchased fruit, he shaped EABA into a recognisable voice: a Syrah-dominant red with Southern Rhône co-fermenters, released in small quantities on a single annual schedule. Buyers who wanted it had to be on the mailing list and wait for the spring shipment.

The 2020 purchase of Slide Hill changed the label's centre of gravity. A winemaking project built on relationships with growers became an estate with its own land. Binns now controls every decision from vine to bottle on that 39-acre property, and the fruit that goes into EABA no longer depends on agreements that can shift between vintages. The single-offering release model stayed in place; the foundation underneath it became more stable.

Vineyards And Cellar

Slide Hill Vineyard's three hills and meadow give Binns a range of growing conditions within one property. Varying orientations mean some blocks receive morning sun and others afternoon sun, which changes how quickly fruit develops. The varied soils across the vineyard affect water retention and vine stress, two factors that show up directly in the density and concentration of the final wine.

The cellar work at Andremily is oriented toward small-production quality. Binns assembles EABA from the vintage's available fruit, adjusting the proportion of Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache, and occasionally Viognier based on what each year delivers. The Viognier addition, present in the 2020 vintage at 3%, is a technique common in Northern Rhône Syrah production, where the aromatic white grape is co-fermented with Syrah to lift the colour and add floral character to the nose.

Wines

EABA is the sole wine in the range. It is a red Rhône-style blend with Syrah as the anchor in every vintage. Mourvèdre and Grenache are the secondary grapes, and their proportions shift year to year based on the character of the fruit.

Across four consecutive vintages the blend has moved: 2017 ran 58% Syrah, 28% Mourvèdre, 11% Grenache; 2018 was 59% Syrah, 23% Mourvèdre, 15% Grenache; 2019 moved to 61% Syrah, 24% Mourvèdre, 13% Grenache; 2020 came in at 65% Syrah, 22% Mourvèdre, 10% Grenache, and 3% Viognier. Syrah's share has increased, Mourvèdre holds its position as the structural backbone, Grenache contributes weight and red fruit, and the Viognier addition in 2020 brought a lifted aromatic dimension the earlier vintages did not carry.

The wine is released once a year in a single fall offering, shipped the following spring. There is no second label, no white, no rosé confirmed in the range.

In The Glass

EABA opens with dark fruit: black raspberries, plums, black cherries, and blueberries in the 2020, alongside coffee, black pepper, slight chocolate, and roasted herbs. The 2019 leads with ripe blackberries, violets, charcuterie, pepper, and olive. The 2018 shows a fuller texture, with black and blue fruits, white pepper, and herbs de Provence on the nose and a lifted finish.

The colour is deep: the 2020 is inky purple and opaque. Tannins are fine in the 2019, where the finish extends without any grip that cuts the fruit short. Mourvèdre contributes the darker, more savoury register across vintages; Grenache rounds the mid-palate; Syrah drives the pepper, the dark fruit intensity, and the overall shape. The wine is built for drinking with food rather than open-glass sipping, and the density suggests short to medium-term ageing potential of several years from release.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the 2020 EABA. The 2020 at 65% Syrah is the most Syrah-forward vintage in the confirmed range, with black raspberry, plum, and coffee on the nose, fine tannin through the mid-palate, and enough weight to pair with lamb or slow-cooked beef.

Anecdote

In 2020, eight years after launching Andremily on purchased fruit, Jim Binns bought Slide Hill Vineyard in Edna Valley. The property came with 39 planted acres spread across three rolling hills and a connecting meadow, with different soils and aspects on each hill. For eight years, Andremily's fruit supply had depended on arrangements with other growers, which meant Binns could shape the wine in the cellar but had less say over what happened in the vineyard before harvest. Slide Hill ended that. Binns now farms his own land, walks his own rows before picking decisions, and assembles EABA from fruit he has watched through the growing season.

Final Word

Andremily is a one-wine operation built by a winemaker who spent twelve years learning his craft at one of California's most demanding small producers before going out on his own. EABA shifts its blend each year, following the vintage rather than chasing a fixed recipe. The release window is narrow, the production is small, and since 2020 the fruit comes entirely from Binns's own 39-acre property in Edna Valley. If you find an allocation, take it.

Sources

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