Let’s have a wine-nerd debate: Can California Pinot Noir be a quality match for red Burgundy at a similar price point? I’m voting yes.
Let’s agree, though, that this is a generalization with plenty of exceptions, and the variables have changed a lot over time.
Over my life in wine, I’ve seen this discussion evolve. As recently as the 1980s, the notion still prevailed that only Bourgogne producers had mastered the secrets of growing Pinot Noir properly and making it into a high-quality wine.
That conventional wisdom had endured for centuries and hadn’t even been really challenged until a few producers in California (Josh Jensen of Calera, for one) and Oregon (David Lett of the Eyrie Vineyards as an early pioneer) started working seriously with the quirky grape.
The fabled Bien Nacido Vineyard, first planted in 1973, is the primary vineyard source for Au Bon Climat wines. The scene bears little visual resemblance to Bourgogne, but Au Bon Climat’s excellent Pinot Noirs bear fair comparison with similarly priced red Burgundies. (Image from the Au Bon Climat website.)
Once the gates were open, the rivers of Pinot started to flow. But with rare exceptions, the resulting wine would never have been mistaken for Burgundy. Thanks to many variables – climate and soil (terroir); Pinot’s well-earned reputation as a difficult grape to grow and make into wine; style preferences of individual producers, and the influence of powerful critics – Old World and New World Pinot Noirs quickly diverged into different and fairly predictable styles.
Burgundy, with its cooler climate and long tradition as a subtle, complex, and interesting wine with relatively low alcohol, one that required significant cellaring time to properly mature and would command high prices, was a strong contrast from California Pinot, which largely evolved as a big, bold, fruit-forward, high-alcohol, and distinctly oaky wine. Some of the most sought-after labels could command prices in the lower three-figure range, but that was still a far cry from the breathtaking price tags on trophy Burgundies.
In my opinion, though, based on more recent tastings, the style of many California Pinot Noirs – especially in the modest but slightly upscale $20s and $30s price range – seems to be moving away from New World excesses toward a gentler style that reveals the grape’s Burgundian heritage.
No, there may never be a California Romanée-Conti equivalent. But there’s no California Pinot even remotely approaching that price point, either.
Today I’m thinking about recent tastings of two similarly priced Pinots – the Moillard 2023 “Le Duché” Bourgogne Pinot Noir that I discussed in my October 24, 2025 column; and today’s featured wine, Au Bon Climat 2023 Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir.
Both wines sold at similar price points in the upper $20s. They were both delicious, and they both showed surprisingly similar “Burgundian” styles in my tasting. This is a single data point, I understand. But it is consistent with other recent tastings of Burgundies and West Coast U.S. Pinots I’ve tasted in recent years. It didn’t seem that unusual. Yet as recently as the late 90s and early 00s, and the idea of enjoying two similar, tasty, and good-value Pinots from those opposing terroirs would have seemed like crazy talk.
Let’s have a wine-nerd debate: Can California Pinot Noir be a quality match for red Burgundy at a similar price point?
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