One of the best wine makers most people have never heard of is Jim Adelman of Au Bon Climat.
Jim has been day-to-day winemaker and overseer of all aspects of wine production at the winery since the early ‘90s under the tutelage of Jim Clendenen until he passed 5 years ago. Without question, he has been responsible for the continued improvement and consistent quality of ABC’s and other winery related label’s wines.
I’ve been blessed to have known Jim since he started at ABC and always loved his passion for all things in life, especially college basketball. Thanks to one of my best ever dear friends, Jim Clendenen, a group of us would go to the John Wooden Classic in Anaheim every year and see 4 of the best college teams play and then go to Valentino’s in Santa Monica for an immaculate multi course dinner with treasured Italian wines personally orchestrated and hosted by owner, Piero Selvaggio. This whole experience was one of the highlights of each year for all who attended and I was blessed to have been included each time and extremely grateful for the fellowship with all who were included, of which, Jim Adelman was always a part.
As it is with many good things in life, things change and people move on and Jim decided to retire about a year ago and it finally manifested as he was honored in a weekend of celebration and tribute at the winery this March.
Roelanda and I went to the Saturday event and got our farewell hugs and congrats in with Jim while re-connecting with many of our beloved friends and patrons of the winery and Jim Clendenen’s children, Isabelle and Knox.
During the event, Jim Adelman and I and one other regular attendee who is another one of my best ever dear friends, Chef Rick Manson, reminisced about many wonderful times past, including some of the John Wooden Classics and we howled and re-lived many treasured moments.
Thanks to Jim, the winery offered tastes and the sale of many personally selected back vintages/ wines from their vast library stash in addition to serving a wonderful lunch catered beautifully by Chef Rick.
I tasted through many of the wines starting with whites and then moving on. There were numerous stupendous wines and here’s some notes on a few I personally liked:
2014 CLENDENEN FAMILY VINEYARDS LE BON CLIMAT SANT MARIA VALLEY GEWURZTRAMINER- this was my first stop at the wine stations located throughout the interior of the winery and it was a good one as this wine prepared my palate perfectly with its fine acidity, pleasing aromas and tastes of delicate oak laden lemon, pear, tangerine, grapefruit, fig and apricot with a streak of minerals and a petrol background; it had an oily texture which extended the finish for a complete experience.
2021 AU BON CLIMAT HILDEGARD SANTA MARIA VALLEY WHITE BLEND- this is comprised of 50% Pinot Gris, 45% Pinot Blanc and 5% Aligote; it had toasted and buttered hazelnut, lemon, pineapple, grapefruit, yellow apple and yellow peach flavors abounding with a vanilla topping while being delivered in a creamy texture that carries all of the goodness to the back end where it just hung on seemingly forever.
From Jim Clendenen:
“Chardonnay was not always planted in the Corton Charlemagne wine region of France. During the reign of King Charlemagne it is believed Pinot Gris, Pinot
Blanc and Aligoté were the main white varietals. This intrigued Jim to the degree that in 1998 Au Bon Climat created its first Hildegard blend, named after Charlemagne’s wife. A success from the start, we never stopped.” Leave it to Jim to come up with this idea for a consistently remarkable white wine blend and use Charlemagne’s wife’s name.
1997 AU BON CLIMAT “le bouge D’ a cote” SANTA MARIA VALLEY CHARDONNAY- this was a wowzer wine from the very beginning, first with its pure yellow gold color and then from a nose full of buttery stone fruit with yellow peach, nectarine and caramelized yellow apple most prominent; the creamy texture was the perfect compliment as similar notes carried on all the way through being joined by some nice honeysuckle and mandarine orange; its hallmark was its impeccable balance which confirmed this wine is at a great place now.
2005 AU BON CLIMAT ISABELLE PINOT NOIR in magnum- this wine has been made each year from the finest barrels from various sites, making every vintage extra special and unique; I should note, Jim used the year of conception for his first release of this and Knox’s wines, in this case, 1994 for Isabelle; when I saw this being offered, I immediate thought of numerous times I’ve tasted it with Jim, usually in magnum and from either one of our cellars and was the last wine we shared before he passed; it has been 5 years since then and I was super impressed as to how is developing; it is still sporting a youthful vibrant red purple color and giving aromas of spicy blueberry and black raspberry with some black cherry in the background, all of which continued on all the way through; it was full bodied with a little weight and nicely layered for a more complex experience; it is so lovely now and has all other necessities, acids and tannins, to mature gracefully toward its apogee which I expect to be in another 5 years. You made another great Isabelle brother.
2019 AU BON CLIMAT SANFORD & BENEDICT SANTA YNEZ VALLEY PINOT NOIR- part of the Santa Barbara Historic Vineyard Collection, this gem has been a consistently stellar release and this bottle was as good as any; about 25% of the fruit was whole cluster fermented and it was experienced in the nose and taste profiles with a bit of pepper and spice accenting the savory red and black raspberry, red cherry and blackberry fruit; it was medium to full bodied, had layered complexity and finished on an upbeat with everything coming together; this is a brilliant wine with promises for stardom once fully mature in about 15 years or so.
2005 AU BON CLIMAT KNOX ALEXANDER SANTA MARIA VALLEY PINOT NOIR in magnum- IMHO, this was the WOTD and, like the 2005 Isabelle, I have had many bottles in the past which helped to get a read on where this is and how it is developing; following its still youthful and vibrant dark red purple color came aromas of spicy red, blue and black fruit with black raspberry most evident in the nose and black cherry most prominent on the palate; it was full bodied and yet had loads of elegance and grace; its hallmark was it amazing spicy ripe fruit that was delivered in a perfectly weighted texture that extended the finish and left an impressive last impression. I have a few in my cellar thankfully.
I tasted many other wines, all of which were really good, some of which were made for other friends of the winery family using their own labels, but crafted in the ABC style that Jim Adelman perfected.
It was a great day and one filled with nostalgia and fond memories of my buddy Jim Clendenen and his son and daughter and many of the people who worked with him to make their labels truly outstanding across the board with Jim Adelman being the closet winemaker behind The Mind Behind.
Cheers,
Blake
L-R: Chef Rick Manson, Jim Adelman and me
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