Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Pinot Noir Selleck Vineyard is off the hook. Coming from a warmer, south-facing plot of vines, it offers up a knockout bouquet of black raspberry, liquid flowers, crushed stone and new leather to go with a dense, concentrated, yet sexy and hedonistically slanted palate that’s grounded by a core of sweet fruit. Count me a fan. This beauty should be given a handful of years in the cellar and then consumed over the following decade or more.
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Wine Enthusiast
If there's one California Pinot Noir you cellar this vintage, make it this one. It's a stone-cold guarantee. Light and silky in the mouth, with brisk acidity, it shows rich raspberry, cherry, red currant and sandalwood flavors that are deep and long. Has all the necessary balance to evolve many years, and should start showing bottle development after 2018.
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Wine & Spirits
If you've ever picked wild blackberries, you probably remember what it's like to bite into those few berries that are simply perfect. Josh Jensen's 2010 Selleck reminds me of that kind of moment; it feels like an uncomplicated, pure distillation of berry sap. But that deliciousness is a bit deceptive. Under the blue fruit, there's a place of cool, stony tannins keeping the wine fine and taut. It may be tempting now, but the wine will only improve with time. This comes from a south-facing block planted, along with Reed and Jensen, in 1975, well positioned to capture Mt. Harlan's ample sunlight. Maybe that's why the fruit feels almost photovoltaic.
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.