2010 Grenache Grizzly

Owner/winemaker Bradley Brown described 2012 as "pretty much a perfect vintage, with no pressure to harvest and no need to let fruit hang out late to hit maturity either." Brown was able to harvest fruit from his cool sites at the end of September and into early October, at varying Brix levels (between 22 and 24 degrees) and with completely healthy, mature stems that allowed him to vinify with varying percentages of whole clusters--from none to 100%. Crop levels at Brown's high-altitude vineyards and those neighboring sites from which he purchases grapes "are never high, especially compared to many vineyards up north." He pointed out that "normal is anywhere from one ton per acre to three in the warmer sites and younger vines," so 2012 didn't require the draconian fruit-dropping that occurred across most of the state.

This is a superb set of wines from Big Basin and proprietor Bradley Brown. The 2010 Syrahs are every bit as delicious as they were from barrel. Over the last few years Brown has moved towards slightly earlier harvests and increased the use of whole clusters. As always all of the Big Basin wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered. Things are still in a bit of a transition stage, so the next few vintages are going to be very interesting.

I tasted a bevy of gorgeous wines with proprietor Bradley Brown this year. These new and upcoming releases are impeccable and strongly suggest Brown is one of the up and coming stars of the region. I can hardly wait to see how his wines develop in the future. Most of the 2010 Pinots were harvested during the first week of October, on the late side that year. The wines spent 16 months in French oak, between roughly 40-60% new. The 2009 Syrahs were picked during a broad window that started in early October and lasted much of the month. Brown gave his 2009 Syrahs about 27 months in French oak, from 50-86% new. I also tasted a number of wines from barrel, most of them 2010 Syrahs and Syrah-blends. Today, those wines are very promising, as the cold 2010 vintage seems to have brought out the maximum in varietal definition and nuance.