Big Basin

Big Basin was founded by Bradley Brown and has estate and partner vineyards in the Santa Cruz and Gabilan Mountains. The estate's story began in 1998, when Brown purchased Frenchie's Ranch. With guidance from John Alban, he planted Rattlesnake Rock Estate vineyard in 2000, vinified the first vintage in 2002 and built the winery in 2003. His sister Wendy joined as co-owner in 2005, and Blake Yarger is the winemaker.

The 10 acres of estate vineyards are CCOF-certified organic, and all vineyard work is done by hand. Alongside this organic farming, its minimal-intervention winemaking includes foot-treading, whole-cluster fermentation without commercial yeasts and indigenous malolactic fermentation in barrel. It uses SO2 sparingly, favors sur lie aging and avoids fining and filtering whenever possible.