From East France to Central California
1982 was a year for two wine pioneers to bring old world wine visions to new world climes.
Au Bon Climat
In 1982, Jim Clendenen looked at California’s Santa Barbara County and saw the marine-based soils and the cool air coming off the Pacific. He decided that this area was ideal for growing the grapes for Burgundian-style Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. After trips to Burgundy, he was even more convinced.
From Clendenen’s determination came Au Bon Climate Vineyards. Barrel fermentation, whole cluster pressing, aging on lees, and substantial time in François Frères barrels all became part of Au Bon Climate’s winemaking regimen in their Santa Maria winery.
Qupé Wines
Santa Maria, California is a small town in Santa Barbara County, on the state’s south central coast — some 100 plus miles north of Los Angeles and just south of Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo. Running out of Santa Maria and down into the Santa Ynez Valley is Foxen Canyon Road. It is along that road that Bob Lindquist (also in 1982) founded Qupé Winery.
Taking the Chumash word for “poppy” for his new venture, Lindquist looked at hillside, cool climate sites with sandy, calcareous and rocky soils, and pioneered the belief that Santa Barbara County could be the place for northern Rhône inspired Syrahs and Chardonnays. In 1989, he partnered with friend Jim Clendenen to build a winery under a lease agreement with the prized Bien Nacido Vineyards in Santa Maria Valley, and Bien Nacido became the grape source for a lot of Qupé wines.
Eventually, Lindquist was able to get positive worldwide recognition for his Syrahs and Chards. Sadly, good products don’t always mean good profits, and by 2010s, Linquist was in search of capital and deep pockets. In 2013, he found both in wine group Terroir Life and its CEO Charles Banks … that was until a few years later when Banks was caught and convicted in 2017 of having defrauded one of his former clients.
As Terroir Life began to unravel, wine group Vintage Wine Estates purchased Qupè in 2018. That relationship lasted until June of last year. After misjudging the market for the number of businesses it acquired, Vintage Wine Estates filed for bankruptcy in June of last year.
Happily, in October, Qupé neighbor on Foxen Canyon Road, Andrew Murray Vineyards, purchased them. Having opened a decade after Qupé, Murray was inspired by Lindquist to pursue his own northern Rhône inspired Viogniers and Syrahs. “I was in his shadow when we started,” said Murray of Lindquist. “I admired him for being so manically passionate, like I ultimately became, about Rhône varieties … We’re bringing it back home.”
Please join guest pourer Geoff Bell from distributor Robbins Cellars as we taste wines from these two historic wineries. Feel free to visit us any time within the hour and a half.