At the end of August Big Basin Vineyards opened a new tasting room in Saratoga. Wes and I took a trip out to the winery and called in on the way to see the place and taste the current range.

The tasting room is in a brand new building on Highway 9, next door to Cinnabar - the address is at 14598 Big Basin Way. The room is light and airy, with a large L shaped bar and some comfortable seats. The walls are decorated with photographs of the vineyards taken by the owner and winemaker Bradley Brown and artwork by Matt Jones, whose work is used on several of the wine labels.

Tasting for a flight of 6 wines is $10, refunded with $100 purchase. There is currently a 2 for 1 promotion. You can also purchase wines by the glass; since the tasting room is open until 7PM on Fridays and Saturdays that makes it an ideal place to meet up prior to dinner.

2009 'Aura' Rose of Syrah, Monterey County
Floral nose, with notes of rose hip. While not sweet it doesn't come across as bone dry; it's fruity with a slightly bitter finish and flavours of crisp red apples. Light acidity. $18 89

2007 Alfaro Family Vineyard Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains
I've often found the wines from the Alfaro Family vineyard to be rather tannic and unyielding when young, but Bradley's treatment doesn't show that at all. The nose has sweet candy and dried cherry; in the mouth it's richly textured and spicy with flavours of dried cherry and white pepper, and a tart finish. $42 91

2007 Syrah
This is a 50/50 blend of Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey County fruit.
The nose is soft and plummy, the fruit is smooth and light fruit with some tart berry notes and a light finish. $28 88

2006 Rattlesnake Rock Syrah, Santa Cruz Mountains
The flagship estate wine; when I've tasted previous vintages it's been a really big textured wine. This seems lighter than in other years; the nose is fairly restrained with dried currant notes. However it's still pretty big and rich; there are layers of layers of dried fruit, herb and minerals and a longish finish showing those mineral notes again. $54 92

2007 Mandala, Santa Cruz Mountains
This is predominantly estate Syrah, with around 14% Cabernet Sauvignon from a vineyard in Los Gatos blended in. Surprisingly the Cabernet seems more prominent; the nose shows blueberry and pepper, with a balsamic note. On the palate there's blueberry and blackcurrant with oak and tannin showing on the finish. $39 91

2007 Coastview Syrah, Monterey County - Gabilan Mountains
Interesting nose; more assertive than the Rattlesnake Rock with herbal notes, some green pepper and nice black fruit. In the mouth it's another big, richly textured wine; concentrated black fruit flavours with some candied orange peel and meaty notes, leading up to a long finish. Nice smooth tannins; really a delicious wine. $48 93+

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At 2600 feet above sea level, Muns Vineyard is one of the highest in the country, and probably the highest Pinot Noir vineyard. The 77 acre property was a pine tree farm in the 1970s. During the 1980s a previous owner installed 13 acres of irrigation and trellising and planted Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. However the project was abandoned before any wine was ever produced.

Ed Muns purchased the property in 1988; by then the few remaining vines were in very pooor shape and the vinyard was completely overgrown. In 1997 he began refurbishing the vineyard and repairing the old damaged trellising and irrigation. He planted three different kinds of rootstock and grafted them with four different Pinot clones. Most of the fruit is sold to Silver Mountain and Sonnet, with a small portion being used for Ed's own label.

The first commercial vintage was 2004, and was custom-crushed at Soquel vineyards. Since 2005 the wine has been made by Tony Craig at Silver Mountain.

The wines were poured at the Forbes History Museum in Los Gatos during the Vintners' festival to celebrate the launch of their exhibit on the historic Novitiate winery.

2007 "Jazz On The Plazz" Rose $16
The rose is available in two labels, but it's the same wine. This particular label is to support the Los Gatos Summer Jazz series and is only sold within Los Gatos.
Very nice nose of strawberries and rose petals follows on to the palate. A light, fresh summer wine.

2004 Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains
This saw 8 months of new French oak. Good nose of sharp cherry and vanilla. Good, deep cherry fruit followed by a dry, fairly short finish.

2005 Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains
The first vintage made by Tony Craig. The wine spends 18 months in 30% to 50% new Hungarian oak. Rather than being racked the lees is stirred periodically.
There's a slightly oxidised note to the nose; on the palate the acidity overwhelms the fruit. Might appear better with food, but alone it comes across as disjointed.

2006 Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains
A very nice nose showing lots of rose petal. Lighter than the 2005; fresh and fruity, well balanced and drinking nicely.

2007 Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains
As with the 2007 rose, the nose shows strawberries and rose petals. Abundant strawberry fruit, nice balance and a good finish. While it's nice now, it should continue to improve for the next few years.

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Many wineries have their share of gold medals, but there can't be many that boast an Olympic gold medal. Figure skater Peggy Fleming won the USA's only gold medal at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. She and her husband - former dermatologist turned winemaker Greg Jenkins run the Fleming Jenkins winery. The wines are made at the old Novitiate Winery, now home of Testarossa, and they have a tasting room in downtown Los Gatos. The fee is $5 and normally includes 5 wines; the port usually isn't available to taste.

Note Further to my recent comments on scoring systems I've decided to give the 100 point scale a shot.

2008 "Victories" Rosé
A blend of 87% Syrah and 13% Pinot Noir, barrel fermented but no malolactic. Part of the proceeds go to support breast cancer research (Peggy was diagnosed and successfully treated in 1998.)
Light nose with ruby grapefruit, wild strawberries and a hint of banana. Though dry it has a light, sweetish, fruity character; sherbet, strawberry and tropical fruit, with good acidity and a mouth watering finish. A nice summer sipper. 87 $20

2007 Jenkins Vineyard Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains
From the 1 acre vineyard planted by the owners home. The wine sees about 35% new French oak.
Light nose showing lemon zest; on the palate there's a subtle blend of creamy vanilla, lemon, melon and some minerality, good acidity and a medium length finish. Nice, but not a bargain. 89 $38.

2006 Black Ridge Syrah, Santa Cruz Mountains
Nose shows smoky oak, black plummy fruit and a touch of liquorice. Nice complexity; flavours of plum and brambles and some white pepper. Good structure; will repay cellaring. 92 Recommended $40

2006 Madden Ranch Syrah, Livermore
From a 100 acre vineyard owned by John Madden, in Livermore. The warmer climate produces a riper wine than the Black Ridge; the nose is smoother and lighter, the palate shows ripe fruit, less structure, with liquorice and smoke on the finish. An easy drinking Syrah that lacks the complexity of the Black Ridge; drink it now and leave the others in the cellar. 89

2005 Choreography, Napa Valley
A Bordeaux blend with 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 9% Merlot and 1% Malbec
The light nose of blackberry jam and smoke belies a good, balanced, well structured wine; espresso, blackcurrant and smoke with a nice, dry tannic finish. 91 $50

2004 Petite Sirah Port
9% residual sugar. The port-like nose (well, duh!) shows some volatile acidity; on the palate there's chocolate with spicy black cherry and an oaky, toasty, porty, sweet finish. Sorry but with one very notable exception (and this isn't it) I'm not much of a fan of US pseudo-ports. 84 $34 (half bottle).

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The warm weather we've been having recently put me in the mood for a nice rose, so I opened one of these. As I recall, I didn't like this as much as the previous vintage when I tried it last time and I was wondering what a bit of time in bottle had done.

It turns out to have improved significantly. The nose reminds me of glace cherries; sweet and minerally. On the palate there are tart cherries and strawberries, with a mineral component. A very nice wine for a warm spring evening.

This cost $14 from K&L and is still the current release

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Recently my wife was complaining that we had no rosé left in the cellar, so a restocking was in order. I called in at K&L and saw the 2007 Alfaro Family for $14.
I visited Alfaro Family earlier this year as part of the Pinot Paradise event and I remember being impressed with their Pinot Rosé; it had a nice flavour of strawberries, perfect for the hot weather.

Maybe they were pouring the 06, or maybe it's the four months in bottle, but the flavour profile of this was very different than I remember. The dominant flavour is now raspberry, backed by a kind of fruit punch. It's fruity without being sweet, and light in acidity. Overall a perfectly serviceable, though not particularly inspiring sipper for those warm evenings and weekends as summer draws to a close.

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I read DrDebs article on summer barbecue wines. It's got some good, general suggestions for wines to pair with typical barbecue dishes.

One of her suggestions is Rose. Now I'll freely admit I don't drink much rose as I find most of them bland and sweet, and not much better than white Zinfandel. But recently I've tasted a few that were more interesting.

Alfaro Family have a very nice Rose of Pinot Noir. Nice fruit flavours with good acidity; not sweet at all. Goes for about $15

Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard makes a Grenache Rose from McDowell Valley. Again it's completely dry and has interesting flavours of raspberry. Good value at $12, but Jeff just makes a couple of barrels so it's only available from the winery.

Bonny Doon makes an excellent Vin Gris de Cigare. It's typically a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Grenache Blanc and is a lovely light, floral summer wine. It's made in large quantities and is widely distributed, so should be available in most states. It usually costs under $12; I've seen it as low as $9.

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