Dark ruby, showing almost NO brick. Spice nose of staticy shag, raw egg and the mineral of a hundred mountain streams combine with tertiary fruit gone slightly vapid but not unpleasant. Sure, it’s all leather and piss and hot carpet, but there’s a sublime black cherry mixed in there, and an edginess of structure you can SMELL. Yes, you can still smell the green-briar and tannin.

I don’t have to tell you how much I love the Big Basin’s. And I am not lobbing this one a soft-ball, as I expected the flaws at this age to be quite apparent and was planning on judging harshly. But it really has none. I am absolutely in awe of this thing at 10 years and 15-2 (I guessed 14-oh).

In the mouth, less vibrant. This is not a woke wonder, but rather a well-made wine doing what it SHOULD be doing at this age and going night-night. It’s beautiful. It’s positively beautiful, but at total prime–and maybe even a touch past. Fruit doing that maraschino tart past-prime bite but not faded or wasted. All the things in life you want and need are coalesced in the mid-palate like perfect al pastor meat or perfect pho broth–a meal not shocking but working perfectly on all levels with no surprises. The tapenade is gone, the funk is non-existent–maybe it never had them. Whatever it had, it is now perfect: fruit concentrated and tannins perfectly emulsified into the grainy finish probably rife with sediment.

Young or old: you can’t go wrong here, boys and girls.

2007 BIG BASIN VINEYARDS Syrah Rattlesnake Rock Santa Cruz Mts. 15.2

bigbasinvineyards.com