Santa Barbara pioneer Jim Clendenen dies aged 68

Fearless and flamboyant Santa Barbara pioneer Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat, who helped to put the California region on the wine map, has died aged 68.

As reported by Wine Spectator, Clendenen died in his sleep on 15 May at his home in the Los Alamos district near the California town of Buellton.

An ardent Burgundy lover, Clendenen’s cool-climate, Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay and Pinot set the quality benchmark in Santa Barbara.

Producing 30,000 cases a year, his wines offered the best of the Old and New World, combining the elegance of the Old with the energy of the New.

“He was a party animal and rabble-rouser, yet the wines he made, with admirable consistency, were models of long-lived restraint; the exact opposite of exhibitionist,” said Jancis Robinson MW, who gave him his ‘Wild Boy’ moniker.

“The wine world is much the poorer without this brave pioneer. Always the life and soul of any Pinot Noir celebration, he was bright as a button,” she added.

Known for his long blond locks and snazzy shirts, Wine Spectator described the self-taught winemaker as “an iconoclast in his early career, a legendary cook, and a force of nature in his joie de vivre”.

“There’s no way to overemphasise his importance to the Santa Barbara County wine industry. A pioneer in every possible definition of the word, he was fearless, flamboyant and a never-tiring voice for Santa Barbara wine and California wine in general,” fellow Santa Barbara vintner, Brian Loring of Loring Wine Company, told WS.

“He transformed Santa Barbara from a source of anonymous fruit for others to a main player on the world stage. For the better part of four decades he was a champion in that regard and we’ve been riding in his wake,” Greg Brewer of Brewer-Clifton winery added.

Born in Ohio on 11 January 1953, having begun a law degree at U.C. Santa Barbara, a trip to Burgundy changed his career path and led him to pursue a life in wine, which began in 1978 with a job at Zaca Mesa winery in Santa Barbara.

After clocking up experience in Burgundy and buying second hand winemaking equipment, he founded Au Bon Climat in 1982 with Adam Tolmach in an old dairy in Los Alamos, which later moved to a shed on the northern fringes of Bien Nacido vineyard.

In 1991, Clendenen bought out Tolmach from the business and became the sole owner of the venture.

Clendenen was known for his generous hospitality – he would regularly cook lunch for his entire winery team and open back vintages to enjoy with it.

He married twice, first to Sarah Chamberlain and then to Morgan Clendenen. He is survived by his children, daughter Isabelle, 26, who works at Au Bon Climat, and son Knox, 21, a student, both of whom Clendenen named wines after.