ABC with the "Running" Club

A few of our group are ABC fans and we pooled some of our wines to put together a dinner.

We gathered outdoors, the London spring weather being kind to us. A lovely evening of great company and superb wines.

Served with wonderful cheese puffs and salami with just the right amount of fennel in.

I expected to enjoy these but was a little surprised at just how much I did. My top two wines of the night in this flight.

• 2018 Au Bon Climat Pinot Gris / Pinot Blanc

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County

  First time I’ve tasted this wine. Colour - pale. Not a super expressive nose - a hint of candied lemon maybe? On the palate - good acidic balance, mouth watering but not puckering. Good length to it. Some discussion around the table about where else one could find something like this - Alsace maybe? Super wine and super value.
  
  My #2 WOTN

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• 2015 Au Bon Climat Hildegard

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley

  Picked up a case of this at a good price after having tasted it at a wine event. Should have got more. Again - pretty muted nose, maybe some wet pebbles. On the palate - a bit more acidity (but again - fully in balance) with a bit more depth and richness to balance it out. Someone described a “spiciness” - I’m not sure I got that but definitely some complexity which belied the lightness and acidity. Serious wine for serious people.
  
  My WOTN

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Served with the end of the appetisers. I was manning the barbecue for much of this so wasn't able to contemplate the wines quite as much as I'd like.

• 2019 Au Bon Climat Chardonnay Santa Barbara County

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County

  Long time fan of this wine - remember with fondness being able to pick it up for $16 in Safeway on occasion...first time drinking this vintage. Colour - straw / pale gold. On the nose - whiff of ice cream, maybe some grass cuttings. On the palate - expressive new world chard, the oak is present, there's some sweetness balanced by the acidity. Cracking value even at today's UK prices.

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• 2018 Au Bon Climat Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict Vineyard

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley

  Colour - pale gold, maybe a little darker than the 19 Santa Barbara. On the nose, note *super* expressive (although we were drinking outside...) - a whiff of oak, some tropical fruit. On the palate - clearly new world, plushness, again with the tropical fruit (one of my fellow diners mentioned um bongo), rich. Lovely wine, very well put together - I'd be excited to drink a glass or two, but a bottle between four would probably be enough...

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• 2018 Au Bon Climat Chardonnay Los Alamos Vineyard

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County

  Another well-balanced but clearly new world chard. Compared to the S&B - a little more sweetness, but also more substance and balance to it. Perhaps a hint of lemon merengue pie filling? Kept on going back and forth between these two wines as to which I preferred (tellingly, the S&B bottle was emptied before this one). Lovely wine, crowd pleasing wine, and you'd be delighted to be served it - but even more than the previous one I think you'd find yourself fatigued if you had to drink too much of it.

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Interesting flight - I feel like I'm slowly, slowly starting to *get* Cali Pinot. The S&B is lovely - and of course it should be. Would be interesting to taste in five years or so.

• 2018 Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir Santa Maria Valley

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley

  Intrigued to read that this is especially made for the UK market. Pleasant, slightly plush nose. On the palate - one fellow diner noted black cherry jam. Perfectly decent. Pinot Noirmalade.

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• 2017 Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley

  Hmmm. On the nose - some spiciness, maybe even a whiff of gingerbread. On the palate - that complexity is there, there's a savouriness to it. Really long finish. Usually my enjoyment of NW pinot noir is really just a function of how burgundian it is but this was a bit special, in spite of most clearly being not burgundian at all. My #3 WOTN.

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We scored the wines with each attendees choosing their favourite (3pts) second favourite (2pts) and third (1pt). Results were as follows

1st 2015 Hildegard (8pts)
=1st 2018 Chardonnay Santa Barbara Historic Vineyards Collection Los Alamos Vineyard
=1st 2017 Pinot Noir Historic Vineyard Collection Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
4th 2018 Pinot Gris / Pinot Blanc (4pts)
=4th 2018 Chardonnay Santa Barbara Historic Vineyards Collection Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
6th 2018 Pinot Noir Santa Maria Valley (3pts)
7th 2019 Chardonnay Santa Barbara County (1pt)

Notable in that once again, every wine scored, but also that there was a three way tie for top spot. We tried to break it by asking everyone to just choose their favourite of the top three, and again ended up with a three way tie.

The main conclusion was that ABC is a great producer and our preconceptions were validated. For me personally, i was surprised at how much I loved the first flight, especially in comparison with the chardonnays, which I'm a big fan of. It was also interesting how the price showed - the grander, more expensive wines were invariably better and more complex - not unexpected of course...