Now, I’ve had a lot of Au Bon Climat’s top Chardonnays that not only compete with but sometimes could pass for top white Burgundies. But this is the first of their inexpensive “house whites” I’d say that about.
It’s from the tiny bit of very old Pinot Blanc in the great Bien Nacido Vineyard, along with Pinot Gris from both Bien Nacido and Sierra Madre.
Now given that Pinot, Chardonnay or Syrah planted in these top sites sells for three times the price, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris here are a very, very rare labor of love. And in Clendenen’s hands they produce an incredible value dry white wine that Eric Asimov (as smart as his dad) of the New York Times called a rare wine at this price that “feeds the soul.”
This 2020 is even fresher and more intense at this stage than the 2019 was – but also (somehow) with the mineral and even what Tanzer calls “carnal” undertones of truly great, old school white Burgundy.
Whatever your criteria – be it sheer delicious pleasure, ineffable complexity and mineral interest, or unabashed breed and class – you won’t find a $20 dry white wine from California (or really many at any price) to compete with this.
Jim Clendenen went out on a very high note.