2016 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Larmes de Grappe

The most expensive in the lineup, the 2016 Pinot Noir Larmes de Grappe Sanford & Benedict Vineyard comes all from the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills and spent 20 months all in new French oak. A wonderful, Burgundian bouquet of spiced sour cherries, raspberries, wood smoke, ground herbs, and flowers all emerge from the glass, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a wonderful purity of fruit, present tannins, and a great finish. As with most of these Au Bon Climate releases, this terrific wine needs 2-3 years of bottle age. This is another fine set of releases from Jim Clendenen's Au Bon Climat. I always find a certain Burgundian style here, and in general, these wines benefit from bottle age and evolve beautifully.

The 2016 Pinot Noir Larmes de Grappe Sanford & Benedict Vineyard is a selection from S&B done with 100% whole clusters that spent two and half years in oak. Rich and sumptuous in the glass, the 2016 is alluring from the very first taste. Rose petal, mint, spice, orange peel and cedar add a brilliant upper register as the 2016 finishes with terrific freshness and energy. This is another superb wine in the range, but it needs time to come together.

The 2016 Pinot Noir Larmes de Grappe comes from the Sanford and Benedict vineyard and was made using 100% whole-cluster fermentation. It has a pale to medium ruby color and is softly scented of red berries, leather, pipe tobacco and garrigue with warm earth, wild blackberries and citrus peel. It's light to medium-bodied and earthy in the mouth with finely integrated acidity and grainy tannins, finishing long and spiced.