Spectrum Fine Wine Auctions Home
View My Retail Cart

Continue Shopping Retail Sales

Big Basin Vineyards Syrah Rattlesnake Rock 2016, 0.75L

Region: Santa Cruz Mountains, California, United States
Varietal: Syrah
Classification:
Importer: CA Winery Direct / Local Dist.
Score: 94AG
Review: "The 2016 Syrah Rattlesnake Rock is a powerful wine. Red fruit, iron, chalk, white pepper, game and incisive tannins give the 2016 a real feeling of drive that distinguishes it in the range. This is an especially mineral-driven, savory, taut Syrah, with all the elements in the right place. Dried herbs, licorice and crushed flowers add aromatic intrigue. It will be interesting to see if the 2016 gains a bit more volume in bottle. It is such a promising wine. The Côte-Rôtie selection Syrah from John Alban works so well here. Once again, I tasted a wide range of wines from Big Basin and proprietor Bradley Brown. The 2018s and 2016s in particular show the strengths of those two vintages. All the wines are done in a minimalist style, with native fermentations and a good deal whole cluster influence. The stem character is especially evident in the Pinots, all of which now see 100% whole clusters, but far less so in the Rhône-variety reds, where the stem influence was less a few years ago, when most of the wines in this report were made. It will be interesting to see where the more current wines end up, as Brown has increased the whole clusters on his Rhône reds in recent years. Aging is done mostly in neutral oak, while the wines are bottled with no fining or filtration. On a less positive note, Brown lost his home during the August 2020 fires, yet another reminder of how devastating California's fires have become in recent years. The winery, which is just a stone's throw away, was miraculously spared."

Staff Notes:
"The 2016 Syrah Rattlesnake Rock is a powerful wine. Red fruit, iron, chalk, white pepper, game and incisive tannins give the 2016 a real feeling of drive that distinguishes it in the range. This is an especially mineral-driven, savory, taut Syrah, with all the elements in the right place. Dried herbs, licorice and crushed flowers add aromatic intrigue. It will be interesting to see if the 2016 gains a bit more volume in bottle. It is such a promising wine. The Côte-Rôtie selection Syrah from John Alban works so well here." ​94 Antonio Galloni, Vinous

"From the home estate in the Santa Cruz Moutains, the 2016 Syrah Rattlesnake Rock is a firm, mineral-laced, yet concentrated and textured Syrah that's going to benefit from bottle age. Red and black fruits, spiced meat, bacon fat, and dried flower notes are just some of its nuances. A concentrated, classic mountain Syrah, it needs 2-3 years of bottle age and will cruise . . ." 94+ Jeb Dunnuck

"The 2016 Rattlesnake Rock bottling of syrah from Big Basin is one of their estate vineyard bottlings, as these vines were planted in 2000 in this windy parcel that sits between thirteen hundred and fourteen hundred feet above sea level. The 2016 version includes one-third whole clusters, was fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged for twenty-one months in used, three hundred liter barrels. The cépages here includes two percent of viognier that was co-fermented with the syrah. The wine comes in at 13.9 percent octane and offers up a deep and properly reserved bouquet of cassis, black raspberry, grilled meats, pepper, a touch of black olive, fine stony soil tones and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and rock solid at the core, with a superb core of fruit, firm, ripe tannins and outstanding balance and grip on the long, nascently complex and very, very promising finish. There is a strong vein of iron in the soils here and this really comes across on the backend here. This is outstanding syrah in the making, with plenty of structure and outstanding depth of fruit. Think of old school Hermitage with a different, stony soil signature." 93 John Gilman, View From The Cellar

Image

Buy Now

Price: $48.00

Only 9 Remaining In Stock

Quantity: