That’s sad news. He was still a young man. One could argue that he brought early attention to the quality of California central coast wines along with Richard Sanford. RIP Jim .
What a crushing way to start the week. I got to know Jim over the last 15 years, and it all started by attending the famous lunch at ABC. One of the greatest people I have ever have gotten to know, and an absolutely brilliant winemaking mind too. No question what I’ll be opening a bottle of later tonight.
Very sad. Larger than life, way too young to leave us.
Had met him several times in the 90s and felt we were friends enough that I could ask if he would be interested in co-hosting a pre-IPNC dinner at Patricia Green Cellars. Two mega-personalities and great winemakers (this is Jim C and Patty, of course) in their primes. This was a legendary dinner. Almost became a contest of which one could say the most outrageous stuff while somehow still talking about wine. While talking about his Orange Muscat Jim got onto an extended story that somehow involved having sex with a goat. I don’t remember the specifics there. People were rolling in the aisles. Carnal activities were had between people that arrived with different dates (it’s a big property). A true bacchanal.
He loved people and he forgot more about wine and winemaking than most of us ever learn or know. One of a kind.
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RIP, very sad news
I brought a couple friends to visit for my first Santa Barbara trip in 2002. I had already been a big supporter of his wines. We spend the better part of a day at the old facility in the middle of Bien Nacido Vineyard. We tasted through all of Jim and Bob’s wines, a few Verdad wines, and the wines from their cellarmaster Jim Edelman’s label. Then Jim cooked us lunch. He rummaged through a box of samples and pulled out this new wine some winemaker from Paso Robles had sent him to try. 2000 Saxum Syrah. At the time I was all in on Aussie Shiraz, and I recall my friends and I liked it more than Bob and Jim. And of course I remember Jim’s facial expression when I told him I kind of liked it.
May His Memory Be a Blessing. Condolences to Isabelle, Knox, Morgan and all other family and friends. He will be sorely missed.
Well, f*ck! ![[cry.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/853b6e76c6e8406be77a6727c2a27ad1672678b3.gif "cry"){kind=small}
I first met Jim in the early 80s. Imagine what he was like in his late 20s/early 30s! We only saw each very occasionally over the years. He was something else.
In the late 80s, I found a 4-6 bottles of '83 Chardonnay in my garage. That was ABC’s second vintage. I have no idea how it got there. I don’t recall purchasing it. It hadn’t been cellared properly. Those bottles were exposed to all manner of weather changes. I was living in the Berkeley hills so the climate was generally cool to temperate. I popped a bottle and it was genius. All the bottles were terrific.
RIP Jim
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Gasp!!! You lost some btls of wine in your garage, Larry?? Shocked… I am. Did you look behind them sheets of plywood?? May be more there!!
Tom
Me too Mel. After a poor night with little sleep, I’m still unable to say all that I’d like to.
The box was just laying in the corner of the garage. I think there were also a few bottles of Qupe Syrah, but I’m not at ALL certain.
I left that house in 1988. It was a rental. A friend built a small cellar space underneath the house. The house was on a hillside so accessing the space was as easy as opening the door to it. Passive cellar. That wine never made it in there!
RIP… condolences to the Clendenen family and friends.
Didn’t realize until a bit ago that Jim’s son, Knox Alexander, was named after our very own Mel Knox!!
Tom
Here is a story that Jim told about Jasper Morris. After one IPNC Jim and Jasper and others drove back from Oregon. They were drinking beer in the car when Jim spotted a highway patrol. 'Down beers!" he shouted. In other words, put your beer down where the cop won’t see it. Jasper misunderstood, held his up to his chin and finished it off.
Everything one did with Jim was marked by something memorable.
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![[rofl.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/a/a7452fcd8e675af869f8da01174474a545b03944.gif "rofl"){kind=small}
So sad to read this. We have lost a legend. RIP
This sad news reminds me of sharing a bottle of one of his chards with a friend who at the time was a A(nything) B(ut) C(harnonnay) drinker. After revealing that the wine she was enjoying so much was an ABC chard her reaction was “damn! are you trying to make me like Chardonnay?”.
Just heartbroken…
What an amazing guy. A true rockstar. I just remember having a great dinner at The Stone House with Jim, Blake and others where we were popping old bottles of ABC left and right. All I know is by the end of the night I was pretty wasted and going around to random tables pouring bottles to strangers. It was too much fun. He will be missed greatly. Without a doubt, my favorite winery from top to bottom…just amazing wines.
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Thanks for posting this Ryan. So many fond memories and this is one more to be added to the stellar list.
NOOOOO
One more good read: