Au Bon Climat
Chardonnay
Santa Barbara County
2022

The producer

Founded in 1982 by Jim Clendenen, Au Bon Climat is today one of Santa Barbara County’s most iconic wineries, renowned for its Burgundian-style Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The winery sources fruit from some of the region’s best vineyards, including Bien Nacido and Sanford & Benedict. Clendenen is a staunch believer in traditional winemaking—using whole-cluster fermentation, extended barrel aging, and minimal intervention—which has earned Au Bon Climat international acclaim and a devoted following among collectors and sommeliers alike. Clendenen passed away in 2021, but his legacy lives on through the winery’s continued dedication to crafting world-class, Old World-inspired wines.

The wines of Au Bon Climat are known for their bright acidity, fine structure and layered complexity, which is testament to the cool climate of Santa Barbara County. From vibrant, mineral-driven Chardonnay to velvety, earthy Pinot Noir, each bottle reflects the terroir and vintage conditions. 

The wine

The Au Bon Climat Santa Barbara County Chardonnay is crafted from Bien Nacido and Los Alamos vineyards, fermented in 70% stainless steel and 30% French oak (15% new) with partial malolactic fermentation for balance. Aged 10 months on the lees, it offers bright acidity and a layered profile of citrus, green apple, and stone fruit, with hints of toast and hazelnut. This cool-climate Chardonnay is crisp yet textured, making it both food-friendly and cellar-worthy.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.