Calera Mt. Harlan Chardonnay 2014
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Coming from accountant-crushing yields of 0.54 tons per acre, Calera's 2014 Chardonnay Mt Harlan was harvested near the middle of September and spent 13 months in 30% new French oak. This killer effort offers an exotic, perfumed bouquet of white peach, orange blossom, buttered citrus and brioche, with tons of chalky minerality emerging with more time in the glass. Rich, full-bodied, yet graceful, light on its feet and impeccably balanced, it's another great vintage for this cuvee to enjoy over the coming 5-7 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
There's a stunning amount of action on the nose of this bottling by Josh Jensen, with dried jasmine, lemon curd, squeezed tangerine, key lime pie and a warm touch of nuttiness. Rounded stonefruit and apple blossoms show on the palate, which is bound by a grapefruit pith grip and features a steadily growing salty character that comes on smooth and strong. A botanical twist hits the finish.
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In 1975, legendary vintner and American wine pioneer Josh Jensen founded Calera (Spanish for “lime kiln”) high in the remote Gavilan Mountains of California’s windswept Central Coast. There, in Mt. Harlan’s low-yielding, limestone-rich soils and cool, arid climate, he began planting what would ultimately become six small estate vineyards. Today, these vineyards are recognized as some of the New World’s most revered Pinot Noir sites.
Calera is a vision, and Calera’s wines truly express the sense of place. Rather than follow the recommended path, Josh Jensen became a pioneer in American Pinot Noir. Taking his cue from the great domaines of Burgundy, which have grown grapes in limestone soil for centuries, he set out in search of the perfect spot in California to create wines unique to the world but in the style of the greatest wines of France. Site selection was vital as he ventured off the grid to plant on the site of an old limekiln in the Gavilan Mountains of California's Central Coast.
Under the stewardship of Winemaker Mike Waller, each vineyard is renowned for producing singular wines of uncommon purity, elegance and aging potential. In addition to its beloved single-vineyard wines, Calera partners with some of the top vineyards on California’s majestic Central Coast to make Calera’s beautiful Central Coast wines, including a Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
At elevations reaching well over 2,000 feet, the Mt. Harlan AVA in the Gabilan Range is an anomaly among its surrounding Central Coast appellations. Recognizing the splendor of the area and its ideal limestone-rich soils, Josh Jensen chose Mt. Harlan as the home of his Calera Wine Company in the 1970s. Awarded his own AVA in 1990, Calera is the only commercial winery in the appellation.