Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Pinot Noir
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of balsamic with some lead pencil, redwood and dried strawberries. Some white pepper. Medium body with a solid core of fruit and lots of flavor. Firm tannins. Savory at the end. Heritage character.
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Wine Enthusiast
Lively aromas of cracked pepper, black raspberry paste and licorice stick show on the impressive nose of this bottling from vines planted in 1996 at 2,200 feet. Peppery and herbal flavors of wild fennel and thyme add complexity to the fresh boysenberry core
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Wine Spectator
This features an alluring core of gently steeped black cherry and black currant fruit, mixed with details of licorice root, singed apple wood, black tea and mulling spices. The long finish has a nice steady pulse, with buried minerality.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2020 Calera de Villiers Vineyard Pinot Noir is stylish and elegant on the palate. TASTING NOTES: This wine deftly combines light and dark berries with notes of sandalwood and earth in its aromas and flavors. Pair it with lightly spiced, grilled salmon fillets. (Tasted: April 19, 2023, San Francisco, CA)
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.