Yesterday I drove up to Big Basin Winery to pickup some orders and taste. Bradley Brown and his friendly family and crew put on a nice tasting event featuring a strong lineup of wines. These notes are from memory. Unfortunately, I lost the release notes from Big Basin so I can’t fact-check all the details.
Table 1
2008 Aura Rose of Syrah – strawberry, watermelon, and punch flavors abound from this ruby colored wine. I ended up taking one of the bottles I bought to a party later on in the evening, where it was promptly consumed. Quaffable but maybe just a tad syrupy for the price, this is still a great outdoor party wine that is also pretty versatile at the table. Showed well cold. 88.
2007 Bald Mountain Pinot – I liked this more than I remember liking the 06 Branciforte Pinot from bottle, and it seemed relatively open for business. This bottling will not be continued, which apparently is just as well because this vineyard was exposed to smokey conditions from one of the recent fires. 90+
2007 Alfaro Vineyard Pinot – more high-toned and wound up than the Bald Mountain. I believe this will be released in the Spring. 90?
2008 Woodruff Pinot (barrel sample) – nice Pinot fruit to be sure, but a bit blinded by the oak which is supposedly peaking about now. We’ll see. I have to drink the Pinot I have before getting excited about future vintages anyway.
Table 2 – The Syrah Table
IIRC this table had the 2006 Rattlesnake, 2006 Mandala and the 2 new releases. The Rattlesnake, as usual, showed some incense and minerality in a more structured package than the others. I’m glad to have a magnum of that to stash away for 4-6 years but it was not the equal of the 2007 Rattlesnake tasted later, nor my memories of 05 and 03. The WOTD, however, was the 2007 Fairview Ranch Syrah. I had this wine at the Outside Lands music festival 2 weeks ago and knew it would show great and it did. This is a ripe cool climate Syrah with a fruit basket of a nose and a blue fruit core offset by smoke, pepper, blackberry, and mocha on the palate, it is just delicious and a great value at $35-39. Three cheers for price cuts! The $10 cheaper Monterrey/Santa Cruz blend is also a good value. This is my fourth time tasting the 07 Fairview and my fourth time loving it. 93+
Table 3 – Unreleased / Barrel Samples
The first wine was a Grenache/Syrah blend and while good, I’m just not digging ripe young Grenache these days, even delicious stuff from the Booker vineyard (if memory serves)… there will be less than 100 cases of this wine.
Then there was a Syrah/Cab blend, the Odeon. I think this was the 2007, bottled but not yet released. This was even sweeter than the Grenache blend. 16.0% abv. I don’t think this is for me.
The 2007 Rattlesnake Rock – wow, this was fantastic. I will definitely buy 3-6 of these. Sorry for the lack of notes on this wine, as it is worthy of attention. Like the 2007 Coastview Syrah (which was not being poured today) this is going to remain in barrel for at least a few more months. Expect great things (and big points) from these wines.
The 2004 Rattlesnake – now, when I tasted it, I thought, well, that’s not nearly as good as the other vintages of this wine, and since I only own 1 of these anyway, I might as well sink it in storage and hope it gets better. A few minutes later, while in line to check-out, Bradley insists I try the non-corked bottle of the 2004. Whoa, much better!! How embarrassing. Whatever. I think I’m still going to hold for a year, then open it side by side with the 2003.
To me, the best wines of the day were the 2007 Fairview Ranch Syrah and the 2007 Rattlsnake Rock Syrah, both world-class wines. The pours and food and all aspects of hospitality were generous and filled with positive energy, on a nice sunny day in the Mountains, life was good. Many thanks to young Issac for entertaining himself (by pigging out) while we drank through the 12 wines being poured.