I believe that is good practice to avoid someone mistakenly leaving the valve in the closed position. (Don't think it is code required. ???)
Personally I wouldn't do without an isolation valve in my own house(assuming I had a bladder type tank), as I would want the flexibility to quickly and easily isolate the tank for testing and/or recharging.
My 43+ year old expansion tank on my boiler requires an isolation valve to allow you to drain it and refill it with water. No bladder!
Can't remember the last time I had to drain and recharge it. Of course that's a closed system.