Bassi Vineyard in New SLO Coast AVA

Bassi Vineyard in San Luis Obispo County is included in a new wine appellation for the region known as SLO Coast. We sourced from this vineyard, first under the name Salisbury Vineyard from 2005-2011, and then under the name Bassi Vineyard from 2012-2014. In 2012, Mike Sinor purchased the property renaming it Bassi Vineyard and implementing distinct agricultural practices. The vineyard,  located only 3 miles from Avila Beach, has always delighted us with its unique expression of Pinot Noir. Flying Goat's 2013 Pinot Noir Bassi Vineyard is still showing very well and guaranteed to please at a lower price point ($38/bottle).

Background: The federal government recently approved a roughly 60-mile-long, 15-mile-wide region in San Luis Obispo County as a new AVA. Known as the SLO Coast, the area stretches from the San Luis Obispo County’s northern border near Big Sur to the southern boundary with Santa Barbara County. It includes all lands on the west of the Santa Lucia Mountains ridgeline, comprising 408,585 acres total. Though primarily focused on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the AVA is an increasingly popular site for aromatic varieties such as Albariño and Grüner Veltliner, as well as ideal for cool-climate Rhône reds like Grenache and Syrah.  

After more than eight years of planning and patiently waiting, proponents of the San Luis Obispo Coast appellation finally toasted success on March 9, 2022, when the federal government approved the roughly 60-mile-long, 15-mile-wide region as an American Viticultural Area (AVA). 

“We felt really untethered,” says Maria Stolo Benetti, who became an early SLO Coast proponent when she opened her family’s Stolo Vineyards in Cambria almost two decades ago. “There was nothing explaining who we are, and what we are doing, and how it was different than anywhere else.”