I tasted through a dozen Pinot Noir releases from Au Bon Climat, a winery I admire immensely. To put it candidly, eight of the wines were unimpressive. They are correct and generally well-made, but lacking the intensity, complexity, and sumptuous expansiveness one expects from the finest Pinot Noirs. The good news is there are four wines I thought were quite good. For starters, the 1995 Pinot Noir La Bauge-Bien Nacido Vineyard exhibits a healthy dark ruby color, followed by a spicy, weedy, toasty, oak-dominated nose, and medium body. There is adequate ripe fruit on the attack, after which the wine narrows out with high tannin dominating the wine's extract. This wine should improve over the next 1-2 years and, hopefully, exhibit more equilibrium between its component parts. It will last for a decade, but I do not foresee considerable complexity or charm emerging. Tel. (805) 937-9801