The 2017 Pinot Noir Alfaro Family Vineyard was made with 100% whole cluster and aged 17 months in 33% new French oak. Pale garnet, it gives up Bing cherries, charcuterie, burnt orange peel, tar and soil aromas with notes of dried herbs, underbrush and dried blackberries. It's light to medium-bodied and earthy in the mouth with bitters and mushroom character, with a grainy frame and good freshness on the finish. 155 cases produced.

The 2015 Pinot Noir Alfaro Family Vineyard from Big Basin offers up a deep bouquet of plums, raspberries, forest floor and currant leaf, with some whole-cluster spice on the upper register. On the palate, it's medium-bodied, richly layered and savory, structured around fine-grained but chewy tannins, some of them stem-derived, and balanced by juicy acids. Nicely concentrated and balanced, this is also quite youthfully tight-knit and will need a few years in the cellar to unwind.

The 2014 Pinot Noir Alfaro Family Vineyard reveals a ruby color as well as savory notes of smoked herbs, cured meats, pepper and savory cherry and currant fruit, with just hints of flowers coming through with time in the glass. Medium-bodied, rounded and textured on the palate, with building tannin and a beautiful mid-palate, it has lots of stem influence, but I like its core of fruit. Give bottles 1-2 years in the cellar and drink through 2024+.

A more pretty, elegant and seamless effort than the Lester Vineyard, the 2013 Pinot Noir Alfaro Family Vineyard is a rock star Pinot Noir that does everything right. Offering up classic red and black raspberry fruits, crushed flowers, peppery spice and wet rock like minerality, it's perfectly balanced on the palate, with a lively, ethereal texture, vibrant, yet integrated acidity and a great finish. This is pure class, and while it saw a similar level of whole cluster inclusion to the Lester Vineyard Pinot Noir, it's much more integrated here.

Looking at Bradley’s Pinot Noirs, the 2012 Pinot Noir Alfaro Family Vineyard is a smoking effort. Spice, pepper and underbrush are supported by plenty of spice-laced cherry and framboise, and it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, excellent overall balanced and notable purity of fruit. Showing some tannic grip on the finish, it should evolve nicely over the coming 7-8 years. Located high up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Big Basin Vineyards is run by Bradley Brown. He releases numerous estate wines, yet also makes a number of wines from other top vineyards in the Central Coast. These 2011s show the freshness and focus of the cooler vintage, and his 2012s offer beautiful purity, with more fruit forward profiles. Tel. (408) 564-7346; www.bigbasinvineyards.com