Au Bon Climat 2014 Pinot Noir

A classic Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir from a great Pinot year, it is a wine of great aromatics and character showing cherry/cranberry fruit, rose petal, earth and spice. The key word is balance.

As with all out Pinot Noirs, we are "hands-on". Every Pinot Noir is fermented in 5 ton open-top fermenters, which are punched down once or twice daily. These punch downs breakup the cap of skins that rises to the surface into the juice so the fermentation process extracts the best part of the Pinot grapes. The wine is pressed to complete dryness and goes to barrel with moderate lees. Our “La Bauge” Pinot Noir is aged in 50% new French oak barrels made by cooper François Frères in the heart of Burgundy in the small village of St. Romain. The wine was carefully racked in the spring and then aged another 20 months (24 months total). It was lightly fined with 4 egg whites per barrel, and then bottled unfiltered. A wonderful accompaniment to thick, oak-grilled pork chops, wild game, or Coq au Vin.

Alcohol: 13.5%

93 POINTS - "A blend from Jim Clendenen’s own Le Bon Climat Vineyard and the Bien Nacido Vineyard where his winery is located, this bottling shows candied red cherry, star anise, fennel and sagebrush on the earthy but fruity nose. The palate combines fresh thyme and other wild herbs with tart Montmorency cherry—bold flavors wrapped in a delicate package." - Wine Enthusiast

90 POINTS - "This is compact, the fruit burled up in smoky oak and peppery, alcohol-driven intensity. With a day of air a warm red-cherry flavor emerges, soothing those hard edges and giving the wine a gracious richness. It’s a powerful pinot noir that needs a few years of age, and braised pork." - Wine & Spirits

The fruit comes from the Bien Nacido Vineyard and Le Bon Climat Vineyard, both in the Santa Maria Valley. The wine shows off complex aromatics and layered flavors of cranberry, red berries, rose petals, and spice, signature characteristics of this wine growing region.