Big Basin Vineyards - Boulder Creek, California

Jennifer B.

Cute place and relaxed atmosphere. The Chardonnay & Rose were the best wine we tasted that day. I prefer reds overall but the options we tried weren't that great.
Staff was nice but a little pushy at the end. We bought one bottle of wine that we liked and after declining another they kept asking and said we can 'make it gift' for someone.
Overall, I think it's worth checking out if you're looking to get away from the over crowded wineries.

Seeing the owners reply, so just clarifying. I knew about the minimal savings on getting an extra bottle. Literally just a few dollars saved (she quoted me $7 in savings), so it wasn't enticing and I explained that I don't keep wine at home while the staff chose to keep trying. This made them pushy in the end to an otherwise good experience.

Wine F. T.

The Santa Cruz and Gabilan Mountains 🏔️ are as beautiful as they are exceptional for grape 🍇 growing.
The mountainous topography, rocky soils, and proximity to the cooling ocean 🌊 are the perfect ingredients for terroir-driven and ageworthy wines🍷
@BigBasinVineyards farms organically 🌱 and practice minimal-intervention winemaking with the goal of producing wines that transparently and authentically express site and variety.
HOMESTEAD is one of the most affordable and creative bottlings managed by proprietor Bradley Brown.
It is a wine of immense pleasure, a terrific value and the kind of wine that disappears in an instant at the dinner table👌

Peg W.

the drive to the vineyard itself was beautiful (albeit the very long and winding road). the view that greeted us was amazing and we were very glad to choose the picnic experience as we can stay there forever...

Leesa Y.

The drive to Big Basin Vineyard is a nice way to see the beautiful Santa Cruz mountains. The staff at the vineyard is always informative and friendly. Their patios have a lot of seating for big or small groups. We always enjoy visiting the winery.

Bradley N.

When I first heard about Big Basin, it sounded like something extraordinary. Too fancy for my tastes at the time. Too beloved by the critics. Too much ambition to supernova into the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA universe of ultra premium Rhône, Burgundian, and Bourdeaux varietal wines.

Then, after becoming part of their entry-level wine club, Big Basin became something entirely ordinary. Ordinary, in a really good way. Routine visits to their winery and tasting room to pick up shipments, attend events, listen to live music, and get to know the place itself a bit better instead of the 90+ accolades splashed all over the top-tier sections of the global wine press. It was just another special place in our immediate vicinity that made living in the San Francisco Bay Area such a fantastic privilege.

Then, Big Basin was almost lost. Nearly consumed in the devastating wildfires that scorched so much of the surrounding area in late summer 2020. The owner's majestic house on the hilltop collapsed in dust, smoke, and fading embers. The redwoods and vines were wounded, but they recovered. Barely. It was a near miss. And a signal that life isn't just about ordinary and extraordinary experiences. Life flows deeper than all of that. It's about the interplay of transience and constancy. Passing moments and persistent connections. 90 point scores are blips on radar screens. Vineyards emerge from the ground and return to ash, one day. People die. But the spirit of it all in a holistic, all-encompassing sense remains.

Big Basin means something else to me now at this stage. It's Bradley and Blake and Emily and all the rest of their dedicated team. It's Old Corral and Coastview and 62 Terraces and Odeon and Alfaro and all the rest. It's foggy mornings and sun-splashed afternoons and sunset under blankets accompanied by red wine and close companions. It's a level of intimacy that I rarely encounter outside of my own domicile and home ground (my personal terroir, so to speak) and that I generally don't talk about on social media.

Look: there are a handful of reviews for this on place on Google. That's about 1000x fewer than it deserves. It's that extraordinary. Or ordinary. Or transient. Or persistent. Take your pick. They are just words and stars, after all. They aren't real.

But this place is. It really is.

Try rating that on Google. It can't be done. I know, because I've tried.

Duane C.

I’ve been a member of the BBV wine club longer than any other. Bradley and his team do an amazing job year after year. This glass is a taste of the 2017 Coastview Vineyards Terraces Syrah.

Jeanne H.

These are among the very best wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains and well beyond. When I moved to Boulder Creek, I thought I'd become a member in support of the only winemaker in town, just because I should. I was shocked to discover the high quality and surprised I hadn't heard more about them sooner.

Emily K.

Beautiful place and the staff was great. We are so glad we decided to stop here after hiking in Big Basin. Would definitely come back when we come back to the area.