Elegant Farmers

What can you say about a man that is a part of the historic archives of Santa Barbara County wine. Jim Clendenen graduated from UCSB in 1976…and it was a summer to france, during his college years that made him chuck a pre-law degree away and make wine. he started out at Zaca mesa in the late 70’s and soon thereafter, in 1982, Au Bon Climat (ABC) was born. ABC has now become one of the prime examples of Burgundian wine across the world. ABC was steadily gaining popularity stateside, but it wasn’t until the wine went oversees to france that the Chard really hit the fan. “We rocked the world, man!” Jim recalls. In 1986, a bottle of Los Alamos Chardonnay was entered in to a tasting in Germany of showcasing 425 Chardonnays including 1986 domaine La Romanee-Conti montrachet and Comtes Lafon meursault Perrières, two wines and regions that define Chardonnay, ABC placed seventh overall. “The style of wine we are making is a style that appeals to international tasters and critics, more so than domestic.” Clendenen explains. You might not be surprised to hear, despite the awards and accolades ABC has been attributed over the years, they’re not stopping. Clendenen is starting a new Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris project in Germany, “It’s manifest destiny, if you don’t keep moving you’re falling behind.” margerum Wine Company started in 2001, but the owner and winemaker doug margerum was already well known in Santa Barbara’s wine scene. his family had run the Wine Cask since 1981, turning what was just a wine shop, into a destination food and wine restaurant known across the US. In 1994, they were awarded the Wine Spectator Grand Award (and every year since), also it was home to Santa Barbara’s futures tasting, a tasting margerum pretty much put on the wine-map himself which highlighted Santa Barbara’s best wineries. margerum’s tenacious work ethic has continued with his winemaking, he has turned margerum Wine Co from what was California’s smallest bonded facility producing a few hundred case a year to one of the most recognized wine names in the US, with a huge following in Japan as well. In the early 2000’s margerum built a small, 240 square foot facility behind friend, and fellow winemaker, fred Brander’s winery, subsequently soaking in much of what he knows, creation and production-wise under Brander’s tutelage. Now margerum is hovering around the 5000 case mark, remarkable in such a short time. And feeling very happy with that, he has recently moved into his much larger winery in Buellton. margerum only makes wine he likes to drink, Rhône reds and Loire and Austrian whites, although they are not the most popular with consumers and critics, he is fine with that. especially since this ethos recently paid off, ‘Sybarite’ margerum’s Sauvignon Blanc with grapes sourced from happy Canyon was one of Wine Spectator’s top 100 wines of 2012…an accolade sought by many but attained by few. margerum’s wine producing popularity has steadily grown over the years, but his future is about as about bright as that Sauvignon Blanc.

In 1979 Bob Lindquist was working at a wine shop in Los olivos, while there he struck up a friendship with Jim Clendenen an assistant winemaker at Zaca mesa. Lindquist was subsequently fired from that shop, for going to a Kink’s concert, and Clendenen got him a job as tour guide at Zaca mesa. This was only the beginning. Lindquist, has since become one of the leading producers of Rhône varietal wines in California, at a time when everyone in the state was focused on Bordeaux grapes, Lindquist was in to Syrah and its ilk. In fact, Qupé is recognized in europe as much as the US as a bench-mark of high-quality, restrained style Rhône variety wine. 1982 was the first vintage of Qupé, which means poppy in Chumash, and in 1989 Lindquist got together with Clendenen and built a winery at Bien Nacido Vineyards, the source of a some of their top-tier wines, where they’re both still producing wine today. While Clendenen was traveling the world with his Burgundy wines, Lindquist too was dazzling the critics in both sides of the Atlantic with his Rhônes.