Similarly styled, with a decidedly cool-climate feel, the 2011 Syrah Coastview Vineyard is a classy, medium-bodied Syrah that excels on its purity and elegance. Showing darker fruits, green olive, sappy herbs and tinges of mint, it has good, not great, concentration, integrated acidity and a clean finish. It’s another high-quality Syrah that will evolve nicely for a decade.
Located high up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Big Basin Vineyards is run by Bradley Brown. He releases numerous estate wines, yet also makes a number of wines from other top vineyards in the Central Coast. These 2011s show the freshness and focus of the cooler vintage, and his 2012s offer beautiful purity, with more fruit forward profiles.
Tel. (408) 564-7346; www.bigbasinvineyards.com