AU BON CLIMAT 2021 “Bien Nacido Vineyard” Pinot Noir
Santa Maria Valley, California
*Santa Barbara Historic Vineyard Collection*
Au Bon Climat continues its homage to the many outstanding vineyards in Santa Barbara County with limited editions of its special designation Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays in their “Santa Barbara County Historic Vineyards Collection”. Since its founding in 1982, Au Bon Climat has sourced grapes from some of the most celebrated vineyards on the Central Coast. Some might say that Clendenen himself has contributed significantly to the reputation of these sites.
VINEYARD
This bottling is 100% Pinot Noir sourced from Bien Nacido Vineyard, which is home to the Au Bon Climat winery. The Pinot Noir fruit from Bien Nacido for this wine is clone 66 from block 11.
Bien Nacido Vineyard is the benchmark and crown jewel of the Santa Maria Valley AVA. One of the oldest, cool-climate vineyards in California, Bien Nacido Vineyard (Spanish for “Well Born”) has been an acclaimed source of world-glass grapes since its founding in 1973 by brothers Stephen and Bob Miller. It is now acknowledged as among the elite vineyards of the world. Au Bon Climat has a special relationship with the vineyard. In addition to having our winery located on the property, we have custom blocks of fruit with long-term acreage contracts for quality hillside vines dating back to the early 1990s. Today, much of what Au Bon Climat sources from Bien Nacido is fruit that has been planted “exclusively” for us. For being instrumental in elevating Burgundian varietals on the Central Coast, Bien Nacido is part of our “Historic Vineyards Collection” as designated on the label.
Located on the receiving end of the east-west transverse mountain range, Bien Nacido Vineyard is a maritime-influenced desert. The morning fog cover and the cool afternoon breezes from the Pacific Ocean make this a Region 1 climate on the Winkler Scale. The rainfall averages 12 – 14 inches a year. The terrain is sand, chalk and marine loam that provides good drainage. The whole package results in cool, slow ripening grapes, with longer hang-time on the vines.
CELLAR
The fruit was hand harvested, then fermented in 5 ton open top fermenters using 60% whole clusters. punched down twice a day. Manually punched down twice daily, which breaks up the cap of skins that rise to the surface so the fermentation process extracts the best part of the Pinot grapes. The wine is pressed to complete dryness and is transferred to barrel with moderate lees. It was aged for 20 months in 75% new Francois Freres French oak barrels.
ACCOLADES
97 points – Wine Enthusiast
94 points - Vinous Media
92 points - Wine Advocate
ABC – Bien Nacido Pinot Noir – Label Image
ABC – Bien Nacido Pinot Noir 2021 – Tech Sheet
ABC – Bien Nacido Pinot Noir 2021 – POS
ABC – Bien Nacido Pinot Noir 2018 – Tech Sheet
ABC – Bien Nacido Pinot Noir 2018 – POS