2013 Homestead

Proprietor Bradley Brown presented a wide range of wines from vineyards in the Santa Cruz and Gabilan mountains. The bottled wines have come in pretty much where I imagined they would. In addition to the bottled wines, I also tasted a handful of wines from barrel that are scheduled for imminent bottling. Unfortunately I did not taste the Frenchie's, as all the unreleased vintages are still in barrel. As I have written here before, Big Basin has gone through a radical style change in recent years. It wasn't that long ago that these wines were inky, deep and super-concentrated. Today, the wines are much more restrained in style. Most of the reds are done with a portion of whole clusters, while neutral oak is much more prevalent throughout the range than new barrels. However, I feel that Big Basin hasn't yet firmly established a house style. That is especially evident in the 2014 Pinots I tasted, all of which are light and lacking in depth today, even for wines made in this style. Some of what I tasted might be attributable to a very early harvest that started in late August, three weeks ahead of 2013, itself an early harvest. However, my instincts say that the desire to pick at lower sugars may have been pushed too far. Of course, time will be the ultimate judge. While seeking balance in wines is a positive, the very word 'balance' denotes a point of equilibrium, not of excess.