2018 Pinot Noir Isabelle

Jim Clendenen was the most important and influential figure in Santa Barbara prior to his passing earlier this year just a few days before I was scheduled to see him. To be sure, a number of Clendenen’s peers, notably Rick Longoria, Adam Tolmach and Bob Lindquist, have made compelling wines for decades, but Clendenen’s outsized personality amplified everything. His death leaves a huge void for the wine community. I had a hard time concentrating during my tasting with General Manager Jim Adelman and Clendenen’s daughter, Isabelle, as the conversation brought back so many memories. In the end, I tasted all the wines again back home in New York. As I have written in the past, the Au Bon Climat and Clendenen Family Vineyards wines, once regarded as very restrained, often taste quite opulent today because of how much styles have shifted. That is especially true of the Chardonnays, which can come across as pretty opulent, especially for readers who have been taught that ‘Burgundian’ in white wine is a synonym for lean and austere. The Pinots also see a fair amount of new oak but are also done with a significant number of whole clusters. All the wines remain reference points for high-end, site-specific Santa Barbara wine.