Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Typically Calera's most luscious, delicious wine in youth. The year 2007 was kind, and the result is a Pinot rich in cherries, raspberries, licorice and cola, wrapped into a silky texture, with near perfect acids and tannins. As good as it is now, it should develop over the next 6–8 years.
-
Wine Spectator
Notably spicy, firm and tight, with complex dried berry, white pepper, cedar and mineral notes that are full-bodied, ending with a minerally edge. Drink now through 2017.
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.”
Taking advantage of the cool Pacific breezes that arrive via gaps between the Gabilan Range and the Santa Lucia Mountains, San Benito AVA is a great Central coast source for cool climate whites and Pinot noir.