Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
From the remote Gabilan Mountains on California’s Central Coast, this high-elevation Pinot Noir from approximately 2,200 feet above sea level features some of the oldest vines in the region. Calera is one of the only wineries in the world to “own” its entire appellation, similar to Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in Burgundy, where Calera founder Josh Jensen worked in the early 1970s before launching Calera in 1975. This curvy, dark-fruited wine opens with earth and bramble, while black raspberry and root beer get perked up by white pepper and blackberry-laden cedar. It’s hefty, but dreamy.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: I have limited experience with the Calera's de Villiers Pinot Noir bottling. I found this wine quite attractive and almost different. Perhaps it is an even more Burgundy-like effort than the winery's usual. Well, Josh Jensen is a unique and iconoclastic vintner. The 2015 Calera de Villiers is in a class by itself. TASTING NOTES: This wine is beautifully balanced in every way. Its aromas and flavors are bright, zesty, and true. Pair its red fruit goodness with a simple roast chicken. (Tasted: September 10, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
Deep and meaty on the nose, this 40th anniversary bottling offers black plum, dried violet and roasted meat aromas. Mulberry, strawberry and plum flavors show on the wild palate, which is lifted by elements of pine needle, dried sage and mint.
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.