Calera Mt. Harlan Mills Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
In 2016, Mills Vineyard yielded a robust and expressive Pinot Noir that marries lovely dark berry layers of black currant and raspberry, with sophisticated notes of black tea, mushrooms, and moist earth. On the palate, smooth, flowing tannins accentuate the rich fruit, while adding to a lush, concentrated finish.
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Wine & Spirits
In a southeast-facing set of limestone hills, Mills Vineyard often yields warm and spicy fruit. In 2016 it grew a savory, generous pinot, the fruit cradled in scents of creosote and bay laurel, oak and spice, and draped in fine tannins; for pheasant.
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Tasting Panel
Grown on limestone soil at an elevation of 2,200 feet, this wine exudes a mesmerizing nose of Chinese five spice and tea leaves. An underscore of wet stone melds with the luscious notes of cherry, rose, and cinnamon.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: I have been tracking the Calera Mills Vineyard over the last two decades; the 2016 vintage is an excellent effort. TASTING NOTES: This wine is a classic. Its rich and racy aromas and flavors of red fruit and earth should pair well with wild game birds. (Tasted: November 28, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
Wild cherry, thyme, sagebrush and light bay leaf aromas converge on the nose of this bottling, which is relatively mellow to start but opens considerable with patience. Roasted cherry, cherry-pit and juniper flavors align on the palate, which is full-throttle in flavor and structure. Drink 2021–2036. Cellar Selection
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aged in 30% new French oak for 17 months, the 2016 Pinot Noir Mills Vineyard is pale to medium ruby in the glass. The nose opens to dusty soil and crushed stone notes, fleshing out to charcuterie, dried red cherries, mushroom and tree bark with black tea leaves hints. The palate is medium-bodied, savory and firmly framed, with seamlessly woven freshness and finishing nuanced.
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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.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
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.