Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2004 Pinot Noir Selleck Vineyard possesses a deep, dark garnet/ruby color in addition to dense, forest floor aromas reminiscent of a DRC Richebourg or Grand Echezeaux. Extraordinarily complex notes of truffles, berries, and damp forest are both enticing and profound. This full-bodied, rich, long, compelling Pinot Noir can be drunk now, but it will be even better with 2-4 years of bottle age. It should keep for 12-15 years. It is stunning stuff!
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.