Good Santa Barbara vitis. Picture: http://www.santabarbaracountywines.com
Taking advantage of a work trip to California, I made a quick jaunt from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara to squeeze in two tasting room visits. I had had one bottle from Jaffurs Winery eight or nine years ago and was interested in revisiting, and had never tried but was eager to explore the strongly reputed Au Bon Climat. Neither disappointed, and I didn’t even tell them I was coming. I strongly recommend trying wines from both wineries who also represent off-the-charts value. My tasting notes are at the end of the post.
Jaffurs is a warehouse winery that hosts its tasting room in the middle of the crush pad. I love these set ups for a host of reasons, the main one being that it smells, well, like a crush pad, and I love that smell because it reminds of the joys and challenges of making wine. It also removes any of the ultimately damaging air of aristocratic pomposity many tasting rooms, unfortunately, achieve.
Jaffurs Winery
I was the first customer of the day, and a man named David saddled me up to the tasting bar and poured five wines for me while discussing the winery’s approach and impressive array of vineyard relationships. Jaffurs has been around for over 20 years and seem to be a local legend. They focus on Rhone varietals, and offer multi-vineyard blends plus a lineup of single vineyard syrahs, and the wines are evidence enough of why Jaffurs has such a good reputation among the industry.
Au Bon Climat’s tasting room is in downtown Santa Barbara, an almost idyllic setting that no doubt influences customers’ experience. I was also their first visitor of their day and Emily, the assistant tasting room manager, poured me a very good flight of six wines that mostly exceed my expectations. Emily’s personable nature and obvious zeal for the winery and industry was a great compliment to the wine. The tasting room, as Emily explained, was really a showroom for Jim Clendenen, the man behind Au Bon Climat and a number of other efforts. Clendenen focus is on taking what is clearly fantastic fruit and making the more refined, Burgundian and Italian styles of wine.
Clendenen Family Estate Vineyard
It isn’t fair to offer scores of wines tasted in a tasting room – the pours are too small to fully analyze the wine, and often times the wines haven’t received sufficient aeration. Therefore, I’m going to relay the notes on the wines that I scribbled down while tasting, but leave out scores are values. That said, I imagine all the wines I tasted would likely score at or above 90 points and receive values of at least a “B” based on my process.
Jaffurs Winery (click for wine-searcher.com listings)
2015 Roussane: really classic representation of roussane’s tropical characteristics, and a really cool juxtaposition of above-average acidity and a slightly oily mouthfeel. I took a bottle with me.
2013 Enticer Pinot Noir: separate label made by Craig Jaffurs. Really pretty nose, very floral and bright. Leaner palate for a California pinot, Burgundian. Great acidity with tar, cranberries and huckleberries. Touch of sweetness balances the tart fruit.
2013 Grenache: muted nose but a really cool, dirty palate. 30% whole cluster press and a very herbal profile with gorgeous fruit. Bought one of these, too.
2014 Syrah: blend from several vineyards, meant to be a consistent profile from vintage to vintage. A bit chewy, full bodied but with good acidity. Dark fruits with some fungal funk and a nice black pepper kick.
2012 Verna’s syrah: vineyard designate. 50% whole cluster. Very meaty, funky nose and palate. Very nice harmony between bloody, smoky and salty elements. My kind of syrah.
Au Bon Climat (click for wine-searcher.com listings)
2013 Nuit Blances chardonnay: some new oak. Cote de Beaune-esque nose, palate lighter than expected but still full bodied. Nice acid and tension on the finish. Green fruits.
2011 Santa Maria Valley Bien Nacido Vineyard chardonnay: nice juxtaposition of butter and lemon, with white pepper and banana leaf. Strong oak vanillin is a bit distracting, but might integrate with more aeration.
2013 Aubaine pinot noir: funky pinot nose with baking spices, cherries, lavender and rose. Palate is restrained, dark and herbal. Dark cherries and raspberries. Smoke, thyme and tar. Round and full bodied with a robust grainy tannin structure.
2012 Talley Vineyard pinot noir: big, bold and fruit nose with some florals. Body is framed with significant oak, smoke and salty red fruits. Big mushroom on the finish. This could be great in 5-10 years.
2008 Nielson pinot noir: meaty, savory nose with cherries. Complex, deep palate. Beautiful smoked meats, cherries, strawberries and blood orange. The fruit is really deep and bright. Nice salinity with a touch of smoke. Will continue to develop. World class wine. I bought several.
2010 Nebbiolo Bricco Buon Natale: very perfumed and tropical nose with a dose of kerosene. Palate is really nice and soft, but the body is substantial. Spiced red berries and beautiful candied plums with black pepper. Gorgeous, also world class. I’ll be enjoying the several bottles I purchased.
