Au Bon Climat California Pinot Noir Isabelle 2015
In the Fall of 2018 I took a trip to Santa Barbara, CA to visit a few selective wineries and taste some of their current offerings, particularly the Rhone blends. There were four of us tasting wines and my comments, on each of the wines tasted, incorporate nuances from everyone’s palate. It was a great trip, the wines were outstanding and the folks I met at each of the wineries were extremely informative, helpful and very generous with their time. The wineries have “Wine Clubs” which offer some tremendous, small production, wines that can only be obtained directly from the vineyard. I recommend to try a “Club”, click this “WineClubLink” to go to their site. I highly recommend a trip to Santa Barbara, you will not be disappointed! Keep checking back with SippingFineWine.com for all of the wineries visited, wines tasted and comments regarding the wines, wineries and folks I met.
Au Bon Climat has made Pinot Noir in Santa Barbara County for 30 years, and winemaking philosophy and winemaking practices have been relatively constant, except for upgrading equipment and technology. They still hand pick and sort heavily in the vineyard, use open top fermenters allowing “punch down” by hand. Their top Pinot Noirs are never pumped, only moved by gravity and age these in new French Oak. Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir is basically the same since 1982.
Part of their “Blue Series,” Isabelle, named after the birth of Jim’s daughter in 1995, was the first top end Pinot Noir that was a blend from different locations, six in 2015. Aromas of berry fruits with citrus, herbs and floral notes, aged for 2 years in new French Oak. On the palate layers of gentle ripe fruit flavors of raspberry and cherry with citrus and oak wrapped in gentle spice. Wine has great depth, soft tannins, well integrated, savory, lingering ending with a nice mouthfeel. Very Nice! Tasting Sample! BTW, I just had this last night at ZUMA NYC, went great with Sushi!
Cheers!