Wild blackberry, cold charcoal, raw acai. Dark cherry, cracked pepper, tart huckleberry. Bramble and wood pile, brisket crust and smoke. Fresh fig and pomegranate seed highlight a lean yet juicy fruit profile balanced out neatly by violet and prickly briar. Green peppercorn and crushed red pepper flakes assert spicy rotundone complimented by anise, cinnamon, and charred meat. Quite intense, exhibiting powerful concentration and structure while maintaining excellent freshness and typicity. Extremely layered and complex with personality to spare. This 2014 Rattlesnake Rock Syrah by Big Basin Vineyards is an outstanding Rhone red from the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Located south of San Francisco between Silicon Valley and the Pacific Ocean, the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation is one of the most diverse, unique, and interesting winegrowing zones in all of California. This peculiar landscape contains a wide variety of soils and meso climates that have proven to support the growth of cool, moderate, and even warm climate grape varieties. Much of this mountainous and isolated region is dominated by dense redwood forests and relatively little acreage is actually planted to vine. This bottling, crafted by Big Basin Vineyards using 100% Syrah sourced from their estate vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, is a very compelling example of the the potential of this unique place. It is balanced, brooding, and bright, showcasing ripe California fruit along with gorgeous notes of pepper, meat, and spice. While the Santa Cruz Mountains are probably most known for Cabernet or Pinot this wine proves that Syrah from this region can be absolutely world-class. Wonderful.