Au Bon Climat, Pinot Noir

Alcohol percentage: 13.5%

Organic

Area:
Santa Maria Valley is a (relatively) cool climate area north of LA, where Burgundian and Rhone varieties predominate. Made famous by the film ‘Sideways’ which helped kickstart the trend. This comes from new clones planted recently and the fruit quality improves with every vintage.

Grape variety:
100% Pinot Noir, aged in French oak for a year (but very little new wood).

Producer:
Jim Clendenen has for 30 years been the self-styled ‘wild boy’ winemaker / owner of ABC. His hippy, devil-may-care attitude has always been reflected in the authentic, lively, ‘natural’ (before that term was taken over by fundamentalists) style of his wines.

Maturity potential:
Delicious on release but we have had mature ABC Pinots at 20 years old which have stayed fresh and vibrant.

The Bottle Shop rating:
This is medium-pale, fragrant, ripe but gentle Pinot. Clearly New World in it soft fruitiness, but Burgundian in its discreet and under-stated classiness.

Please note the last day for guaranteed Christmas delivery is the 19th of December. After this date we unfortunately cannot guarantee that your order will arrive in time for Christmas.