AU BON CLIMAT
The late, Jim Clendenen, (Jim died in May 2021) known as the 'wild boy' and brilliant, and somewhat tousled "mind behind" Au Bon Climat, was a pioneer of the new California. Au Bon Climat was born in an old dairy in 1982 in the cool Santa Maria Valley. At a time when much of the focus was on Napa, and to a lesser extent Sonoma, Jim, with business partner Adam Tolmach, decided to start a winery in the Central Coast focusing on Burgundian varieties and techniques. Jim, along with folk like Randall Grahm, of Bonny Doon, made the Californian wine scent a seriously fun place.
