Au Bon Climat: living on after Jim Clendenen

Those of us (and we are legion) who knew and admired the late Jim Clendenen find it difficult to take a dispassionate view of Au Bon Climat, the label he created almost 40 years ago.

With his unshorn locks, absent dress sense, high humour and instinctive hospitality to all who trekked to Santa Maria Valley to visit him and his winery, Clendenen was a throwback to earlier, more bohemian times.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of 10 Au Bon Climat wines – new releases and mature vintages

On my last visit, he gave me the honour of cooking my ‘national dish’: chicken tikka masala. But he was also a superb winemaker and canny businessman.

His unexpected death last year came as a shock. But Au Bon Climat lives on. Many who worked with him had been with him for decades, and his daughter Isabelle is now involved with the project.

Au Bon Climat (affectionately known as ABC) is rooted in a highly individual approach to wine. Clendenen, a regular visitor to Burgundy, was steeped in its culture.

While he never claimed to produce mock-Burgundies, he shared the region’s aspirations. He preferred restraint to showiness and insisted on farming to ensure grapes reached full ripeness without excessive sugars (and thus alcohols).

He took from Burgundy the practices that worked for him – whole cluster fermentation for some wines, 100% new Burgundian oak for most – but was never dogmatic.

Jim Adelman has been the general manager at ABC for 31 years, and was at London importers Berry Bros & Rudd this month to present flights of Clendenen’s wines that remind us of his style and consistency.

The wines were either Chardonnay or Pinot Noir, with the one exception of Hildegard, a blend of Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Aligoté that has been steadily successful, especially on restaurant wine lists, where its discreet opulence works well with many dishes.

Clendenen found it hard to justify the costs of farming his own grapes, so he had few vineyards of his own.

But as an early arrival in Santa Barbara County he found he had the pick of the finest commercial vineyards, including Bien Nacido and Sanford & Benedict. Their owners were expert farmers but Clendenen, having long-term contracts, could often select the blocks he wanted and specify how they should be farmed.

Ageworthy Chardonnay and Pinot Noir

Clendenen could be impish too. Robert Parker, then the leading arbiter of taste for Californian wines, never cared much for the ABC style, since he preferred bigger, brasher Chardonnays and Pinots.

So in 1996 Clendenen came up with Nuits Blanches. The grapes came from Bien Nacido but the winemaking mimicked Napa Chardonnays. He just wanted to prove he could produce this showy style if he wanted to, but preferred the restraint of his other whites. Much to his surprise, his Asian customers adored the wine, so it continues to be made.

The Pinot Noir range is quite complicated. Two of the wines are named after his children. Isabelle is a selection of the best new barrels, while Knox Alexander is a vineyard selection made in a slightly fruitier style. There are also single-vineyard wines such as the magnificent 2017 Sanford & Benedict.

La Bauge Au-dessus is (who knew?) an obscure Burgundian phrase for ‘a wild party upstairs’. This Pinot employs some whole-cluster fermentation and is intended as an affordable, mid-range wine. The Larmes de Grappe cuvée is vinified with whole clusters and aged in new 350-litre barrels.

Clendenen was proud of how well his wines could age. Exceptional grapes, low yields, moderate alcohols and low pHs all helped to sustain some wines over decades.

On this tasting, the 1998 Chardonnay from John Alban’s vineyard in Edna Valley is fully mature, but the 1998 La Bauge Pinot shows little sign of flagging.

Clendenen’s philosophy and winemaking style are too well established to be abandoned. With the affable, experienced Adelman managing the label, and some family involvement, the torch is flaming brightly.

British drinkers have never needed convincing about the ABC wines. Available in the UK for decades, they are firm favourites, admired for their consistency, elegance and value.

Au Bon Climat: new releases and mature vintages

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