2017 | Calera | Jensen Vineyard Pinot Noir

Burnished, with vanilla and spice notes accenting the plum pastry and dark cherry flavors. The toasty finish lingers, offering sandalwood details.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: Aged 17 months in 20% new oak, the pale to medium ruby colored 2017 Pinot Noir Jensen Vineyard is scented of cranberries, Earl Grey tea, dried flowers, dust, crushed stone, dried thyme and blackberries with hints of mushrooms, tree bark and cured meats. The palate is light to medium-bodied and intense with very pretty layers, a gently grainy frame and a long, juicy, nuanced finish.

• Jeb Dunnuck: My favorite in the lineup, the 2017 Pinot Noir Jensen Vineyard is stunning in every way. Gorgeous black raspberry fruits, lots of floral, scorched earth, and sappy herb aromatics, medium to full-bodied richness, flawless balance, and a great finish all make for one of the most captivating Pinot Noirs in the vintage. It's brilliant today yet should easily evolve for 15 years or more.

Producer Information

Calera Wine Company is a well-regarded wine estate based in Mt Harlan in California's San Benito County. Calera, which is named for an on-site lime kiln, is notable for its limestone-rich soils, a rarity in California. Pinot Noir is the key grape variety here, making several single-vineyard wines. Winemaker Josh Jensen trained in Burgundy, working a harvest at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and later interning at Domaine Dujac. It was there that he learned that Pinot Noir and Chardonnay thrive on limestone soils, so upon returning to the US, he went in search for that terroir. In 1974, he purchased land that was once a limestone quarry on Mt Harlan, and planted 10 hectares (24 acres) of Pinot Noir in 1975. The first vintage from the vineyard was in 1978, and since then the estate has been expanded to include plantings of Chardonnay, Viognier and Aligoté. Today, Calera makes six different single-vineyard Pinot Noir wines, as well as an estate Chardonnay, Viognier and Aligoté. The estate vineyards cover 85 acres (34 hectares). Mt Harlan lies in the Gavilan Mountain Range, at 2200ft (670m) above sea level. With a strong coastal influence from the Monterey Bay Coast, it is one of the coolest vineyard sites in California. The Jensen single-vineyard Pinot Noir is highly regarded; other single-vineyard wines include Selleck, Reed, Mills, Ryan, and de Villiers. All of Calera's wines get very good press, and he is considered to be one of the best producers of Pinot Noir in California. Napa Valley-based Duckhorn Wine Company (itself owned by San Francisco-based private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners) bought Calera in 2017 for an undisclosed sum.

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