Tasting Note: This light red colored Pinot Noir from Au Bon Climat opens with a ripe black cherry and cola bouquet with notes of vanilla oak. On the palate, this wine is light bodied, balanced, and silky. The flavor profile is a black cherry and mild cola blend with notes of minerality and stewed red plum.
This cuvee is named after Jim Clendenen’s daughter. The Isabelle cuvee is an assemblage of the best barrels from the best vineyards that Jim Clendenen harvests in a given vintage. A few of the vineyards represented in this blend are Elke in Anderson Valley, Barham Mendelsohn in Russian River Valley, Talley Vineyard in Arroyo Grande Valley, Sanford and Benedict in the Santa Rita Hills, and Bien Nacido, Le Bon Climat and Neilson in the Santa Maria Valley.
Au Bon Climat translates as “a well-exposed vineyard” a name suiting the coastal position of the vineyards, with its benevolent Pacific fog and cooling breeze. Making the most of these conditions Au Bon Climat buy clones from Burgundy. This contributes to creating wines which emulate the restraint and finesse of Burgundy and France with a magic touch of New World flair.
The fruit is fermented in small open top fermenters, which are punched down by hand twice a daily. The wine is then aged for 24 months in new Francois Freres French oak barrels and then blended and bottled without fining or filtration.
Weather in 2018 Across the whole state, wine quality looks good for 2018 in California. The harvest was marginally larger than in 2017, and slightly later thanks to a cooler autumn that allowed prolonged ripening. The prospects for all varieties seem very promising, with intense and complex wines in prospect.
Technical Information:
Grape: 100% Pinot Noir
Region: California, Santa Barbara
Alcohol: 13.5 %
Production: 1,000 cases produced