Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir Julia’s Vineyard 2016
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.
This is the first Pinot produced from this Kendall Jackson vineyard named after Jess Jackson’s daughter, Julia. A fruit forward wine with tons of fruit aromas, herb and oak notes, aged for 12 months in French oak, 25% new, making this wine fresh and vibrant good for drinking now, and some short-term aging. The 2016 was a good year with an early harvest with perfectly ripe fruit. On the palate, strawberry and cherry flavors with baking spice and gentle oak. Fine tannins, lingering ending with fruit and subtle spice character. Tasting Sample!
Cheers!