2020 Berry Bros. & Rudd Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir by Au Bon Climat, California, USA

2020 Berry Bros. & Rudd Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir by Au Bon Climat, California, USA

Product: 20208006404
Prices start from £28.50 per bottle (75cl). Buying options
2020 Berry Bros. & Rudd Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir by Au Bon Climat, California, USA

Buying options

Available for delivery or collection. Pricing includes duty and VAT.

Description

I loved the great, late Jim Clendenen's Au Bon Climat burgundy-aping wines and this own-label bottling for Berry bros is a delightful sip, bursting with brilliant, bright, zingy red cherry fruit.

Jane MacQuitty, The Times (November 2023)

We are delighted to work once again with the brilliant team at Au Bon Climat for this delicious Californian Pinot Noir. Coming from the often fog-covered hills of Santa Barbara, the wines of Au Bon Climat always have a freshness and elegance to offset their ripe fruit flavours.

This wine is no exception and is a wonderful introduction to the vinous treasures this fabled estate produces. A beautiful wine with tannins gentle enough to match fish dishes or to accompany poultry, pork or pungent cheeses.  

Cellar Plan members enjoy a 10% saving on this wine at checkout.

Tasting note

Fresh red morello cherries dominate the nose, supported by strawberries and a lift of musky perfume. The wine is generous and ripe, with an enticing clove-and-cinnamon spice character; it feels relaxed and gentle. Fine tannins leave a very slight grip on the long, pure and refreshing finish.

Drink now to 2028

Catriona Felstead MW, Senior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd

wine at a glance

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About this WINE

Au Bon Climat

Au Bon Climat

The late Jim Clendenen founded Au Bon Climat (ABC) in 1982. He became famous for making pioneering wines from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on California’s Central Coast. He passed away in 2021 and is remembered as one of the most charismatic and influential people of his vinous generation.

Jim’s passion for wine was born from a trip to Burgundy in the mid-1970s when he studied Law at UC Santa Barbara. During subsequent visits, his enthusiasm for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grew, and he became convinced that the Californian hills were capable of something special with these two noble varieties.

Au Bon Climat translates as “a well-exposed vineyard”, a name that suits the vineyards’ coastal position, with its benevolent Pacific fog and cooling breeze. Making the most of these conditions, ABC buy clones from Burgundy. This contributes to creating wines that emulate Europe’s restraint and finesse but with a magic touch of New World flair.

The vineyards ABC source their grapes from read as a ‘who’s who’ of Central Coast vineyards. Bien Nacido and Jim’s “Le Bon Climat” are the most significant contributors. The influence of the Pacific can be felt standing in the canyon of Bien Nacido, where the warm days and cool nights characterise this superb terroir. Le Bon Climat, in contrast, consists of mainly hilltop vineyards which were certified organic in 2003.

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Santa Barbara County

Santa Barbara County

At the foot of the Central Coast, just north of Los Angeles, the Santa Barbara County reverberates with its Missionary past, although viticulture as we know didn't arrive here until the 1970s. Now there are 6,000 ha of world class Pinot Noir & Chardonnay

While fog banks shape the season, together with a notable rainfall deficit between May & November, elevated terraces such as Bien Nacido in the Santa Maria Valley AVA faciliate premium fruit growing. Santa Ynez Valley AVA enjoys similar trait, though cooler still;

Recommended Producers:
Au Bon Climat's Sanford & Benedict Chardonnay from the region's Santa Rita hills is a prime example. Qupe are another excellent source

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Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or.

Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.

Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.

The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.

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