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Santa Cruz Mountain Trip (Windy Oaks, Alfaro Family, Big Basin)
Tasted May 19, 2012 by chukon99 with 479 views
Introduction
After spending a week on the peninsula for work, I needed to get away from the strip malls, industrial parks, and seemingly endless stretches of concrete. Luckily, I had an entire Saturday to myself to escape for a bit. Things kicked off with a great drive from Mountain View to the UCSC Arboretum. If you’ve never been, it’s a really lovely place. I made a quick detour to the Bay Tree Bookstore to pick up some slug paraphernalia for the kids, then headed down hwy 1 toward Corralitos.
Flight 1 - Windy Oaks (4 notes)
First stop of the day was Windy Oaks, got there right as they were opening. They were pouring 4 wines and I had an interesting conversation with the guy in the tasting room about the recent year-to-year differences in weather. Apparently, this year is shaping up beautifully so far and they’re cautiously encouraged about the prospects for this vintage. After the tasting, I had a nice hike up to the ridge. Unfortunately, there was a bit of overcast covering the bay to get much of a view. To the east, however, things were absolutely gorgeous.
Red
2009 Windy Oaks Estate Pinot Noir Terra Narro Schultze Family Vineyard
Tasted at the winery. Really pretty translucent color. Fresh strawberries on the nose, maybe a little bit of cola as well. Fair amount of fruit upfront with a slight bit of tartness (sour cherry? cranberry?) on the mid-palate. A little bit of spice, but nothing that stands out. I want to say that this had a very “clean” taste, though I’m not sure that comment makes sense to anyone but me. Very light body and a delicate mouthfeel. Solid effort, borders on being elegant.
Red
2009 Windy Oaks Estate Pinot Noir Estate Cuvée Schultze Family Vineyard
Tasted at the winery. Similar to the Terra Narro, but more concentrated in all respects. Medium garnet color. Aromas of cherries, baking spices, and a bit of vanilla. Initial thought on tasting was, “this is a very elegant wine.” It had a bit more heft than the Terra but still retained that sense of feeling delicate. Definitely some spice on the palate with nice structure and balance. On the finish, there was a fair amount of oak but the tannins were smooth. I’m hoping that in another year or so, this will be right in my wheelhouse.
Red
2009 Windy Oaks Estate Pinot Noir Diane's Block Klein Family Mountain Vineyard
Tasted at the winery. Very clear, solid ruby color. Nice aromas of raspberry and spice with some smoky overtones. Bright red fruits upfront, but still seemed well-balanced overall. Medium finish. This was a very nice, solid wine, but it wasn’t especially memorable.
Red
2009 Windy Oaks Estate Pinot Noir Wild Yeast
Tasted at the winery. This was a really interesting and enjoyable wine. Intensely floral nose with lots of baking spice (nutmeg maybe?), and it had some neat dark fruit undertones. Sour cherries and other red fruits were up-front on the palate. Definitely was the most tannic wine being poured, but still felt structured and balanced. Oak was present but not overpowering. There is a fair amount of complexity here and I’d love to see how a wine like this changes over the course of an evening or even a couple of days.
Flight 2 - Alfaro Family Vineyards (8 notes)
Once finished at Windy Oaks, I made the quick trip down the road to Alfaro Family Vineyards. The tasting room/patio was hopping by the time I got there (club pick-up day?) but the gals working there were incredibly nice and I had a great time there. After Alfaro, I made my way back to Santa Cruz to check out the Shipley Marine Discovery Center. If you have kids, this is a great stop. It’s a relatively small place but it’s very educational with a lot of hands-on exhibits.
White
2010 Alfaro Family Chardonnay Lindsay Paige
Tasted at the winery. Nice straw yellow color. Incredible aromas of pear, tropical fruit, and honey. Very crisp on the palate, it’s just a nice big kick of acidity right from the outset. Great flavor of vanilla, pear, and green apple. Medium finish with a slight bit of oak to keep things interesting. In general, this is my favorite type of CA chard. I wanted to just crawl into the glass and live there. Loved, loved, loved this wine and am seriously kicking myself for not getting any (promised the wife I'd limit my purchases).
Rosé
2011 Alfaro Family Pinot Noir Rosé
Light salmon color. Aromas of watermelon and strawberry. Seriously, this thing smelled like a summer picnic. Nice flavors of watermelon and spice with a bit of raspberry thrown in for good measure. Seems like it’d be a refreshing mid-June quaffer.
Red
2009 Alfaro Family Pinot Noir 'A' Estate
Tasted at the winery. Clear ruby color. Aromas of raspberries and strawberries with slight floral and smoky notes. Plums and dark fruits upfront that quickly transitioned into a lot of spice. Overall, the spice seems to dominate/overwhelm the other aspects of this wine. Short finish with a surprising (and slightly off-putting) kick of oak.
Red
2009 Alfaro Family Pinot Noir
Tasted at the winery. Light ruby color (lighter than their 'A' Pinot Noir). Red fruits and nutmeg aromas. Bright red fruits upfront. There definitely some spice there, but it’s not as prominent as the 'A'. Overall, this is just more balanced. Wish the finish were a little longer, but still a solid wine.
Red
2009 Alfaro Family Pinot Noir Schultze Family Vineyard
Tasted at the winery. Had no idea that they got fruit from the Windy Oaks guys. This made for an interesting comparison between the two wineries. This was definitely closer to what I had at Windy Oaks than it was to the other Alfaro pinots. The color was lighter, the mouthfeel was more delicate (it just didn’t seem as heavy as the 'A' or Alfaro Family Vineyard). Raspberry aromas, red fruits upfront which quickly faded into a nice combination of spice, vanilla, and sour cherry. Medium finish with a little tartness.
Red
2010 Alfaro Family Pinot Noir Garys' Vineyard
Tasted at the winery. Holy cow, this was an excellent wine! Of the 4 pinots, this had the best structure and balance. Deep ruby color. Intensely floral aromas (lots of rose) mixed with cherry and other red fruits. Wonderful texture, it’s like stuffing a piece of velvet in your mouth. No single flavor dominated the others. It was just a harmonious combination of raspberry, plum, cherry, spice, and a little earth. Nice long finish. This was more opulent than the other wines being poured, but was still solidly Pinot. None of this, “am I drinking Pinot or Syrah?” business.
Red
2009 Alfaro Family Syrah 'A' Estate
Tasted at the winery. I found this to be a bit syrupy and thick. Deep ruby color. Lots of spice and licorice on the nose, with a little bit of funk. Strawberry and licorice on the palate. There was a slight sweetness to the wine before I got hammered with tannins. The finish was all funk and barnyard. This might have suffered from having to follow the Garys’ Pinot, but it just wasn’t appealing. It might come together with time and I jotted down "has potential," but it's just all over the place right now.
Red
2008 Alfaro Family Syrah Ryan Spencer
Tasted at the winery. Deep red/maroon color. Smelled like toast and fruit with a slight floral component. Dark fruits, coffee, and black pepper on the palate. Had a slightly medicinal quality to it. Fair amount of heat and lots of OAK on the finish. It had a really nice texture, but the flavors never seemed to mesh and it’s way too oaky for me at this point.
Flight 3 - Big Basin (9 notes)
That evening, I decided to stop at the Big Basin tasting room on the way back to Mountain View, and boy am I glad I did. The place was basically empty when I walked in, so I had a good chance to talk to Matt, who was working the tasting room. We went through the first couple of wines on the tasting menu, and at some point I mentioned WineBerserkers. It turns out that he’s on the boards now and then, so he decided to give me a special lineup of 3 pinots and 3 syrahs (including some off-menu stuff) so I could do a direct comparison. What a great benefit from having this kind of forum! Awesome experience and just a great guy to talk with.
Rosé
2011 Big Basin Vineyards GSM Rose
Tasted at the winery. Very clear, a nice light pink color. Very refreshing, a nice summer wine. Bright red fruit with a fair bit of acidity. At times, it even seemed a bit peachy. I'm really looking forward to having one of these while sitting on my back porch in a couple months.
Red
2009 Big Basin Vineyards Pinot Noir Coastview Vineyard
Tasted at the winery. Clear ruby color. Cherry aromas with a bit of spice (cinnamon?) hiding underneath. Overall, it was smooth and elegant with lots of minerality and cherry on the palate. Had a flinty/rocky quality that permeated everything. Very nice texture with a decent finish.
Red
2009 Big Basin Vineyards Pinot Noir Alfaro Family Vineyard
Tasted at the winery in a flight with the Woodruff and Lester pinots. Dark berries (mostly cherry) with some baking spice. Definitely the most fruit-forward and the easiest drinker of the bunch, but still retained decent balance. I wouldn't call it a special wine, but it's a really, really solid one.
Red
2009 Big Basin Vineyards Pinot Noir Woodruff Family Vineyard
Tasted at the winery in a flight with the Alfaro and Lester pinots. Strawberry and floral aromas. Lots of minerality and acidity mixing with dark red fruits on the palate. Long, slightly earthy finish. Really, really interesting wine.
Red
2009 Big Basin Vineyards Pinot Noir Lester Family Vineyard
Tasted at the winery in a flight with the Alfaro and Woodruff pinots. More prominent floral/forest aromas than the others. Fruit aromas were similar to the others but seemed a bit more concentrated. Seemed to be the most structured of the wines. Lots of dark fruit combined with complex spices and a woody component. Tannins are more noticeable than the other wines, but they’re also very well-integrated. My favorite of the three.
Red
2008 Big Basin Vineyards Mandala
Tasted at the winery in a flight with the 07 Rattlesnake & 08 Coastview syrahs. Purple color. Couldn’t pick up anything specific on the nose. Dark, spicy fruit flavors with slightly herbal qualities. Decent finish but it had a bit of heat on it. Overall, it's a solid wine.
Red
2007 Big Basin Vineyards Syrah Rattlesnake Rock
Tasted at the winery in a flight with the 08 Mandala & 08 Coastview. Wow! This is a really, really, nice wine. It’s stuff like this that keeps pulling me back to syrah every time I think about ditching it. Dark red (almost black) fruits with bracing minerality. Amazing notes of white pepper on the mid-palate. Flavors are nicely concentrated with a plush mouthfeel and a long finish. Tannins are prominent but not overpowering. Definitely one of my favorite CA syrahs.
Red
2008 Big Basin Vineyards Syrah Coastview Vineyard
Tasted at the winery in a flight with the 08 Mandala & 07 Rattlesnake. Lots of funk on this one. Had trouble getting into it. Picked up some tart berries and baking spice, but it seemed to be dominated by a gamey/mushroom quality. To be fair, it was an off-menu wine that had been opened the previous day, so it might not have been showing well.
Red
2008 Big Basin Vineyards Odeon
Tasted at the winery (last in a long lineup). Interesting mix of 57% Syrah & 43% Cabernet. My notes really deteriorated on this one (whoops). Incredibly smooth with great balance. Seemed like an ever-shifting flavor profile. Bright fruits (cherry, plum, blueberry), a bit of vanilla and cocoa, a little bit of pepper. Very rich mouthfeel and nice tannins. At this point, I was basically spent (long day, little sleep), but the quality of this wine was still apparent.
Closing
All in all, it turned out to be quite the enjoyable day.