Calera
was founded in 1975 by Josh Jensen, who worked
two consecutive harvests in Burgundy - 1970 at the
Domaine
de la Romanee-Conti and 1971 at Domaine Dujac
- and fell in love with Pinot Noir. For
Jensen, who
also worked the 1970 harvest at Chateau-Grillet in
the northern Rhone Valley, Pinot
Noir makes most of the world’s finest wines. "Greatness
does not happen always or often,
even with prized terroirs," says Jensen, "but when
everything is right
with Pinot Noir, when Pinot is in a good
mood—well, then it’s as good as it gets."
Limestone
abounds in Burgundy's Côte d’Or and, while
Jensen didn’t think that he’d necessarily get great
wines just
by planting in it, he did think
that doing so would
increase his odds of success. So, after
a two year search for limestone-derived soil in
California, Jensen located and purchased a rugged,
remote
property that had once been a lime quarry on Mt.
Harlan in the Gavilan Mountains of San Benito County.
The kiln ("calera" in Spanish) which remained on
the site gives the winery its name. It is 90 miles
south
of
San Francisco, 12 miles south
of the
town of Hollister, and 25 miles inland from the Pacific
Ocean.
In
1975, he planted the three original Pinot Noir vineyards
on Mt. Harlan, which
he named Selleck, Reed and Jensen, honoring some
of the most influential people in his life. In addition
to Pinot Noir, the
Calera vineyards are
also planted
to Chardonnay and Viognier, similarly consistent
with Jensen's Burgundy and northern Rhone Valley
pedigree.
In 1990 the U.S. government approved
the Mt. Harlan AVA (American Viticultural Area), which
is high in the Gavilan Mountains (the lowest point
is at 1,800 feet above sea level). While it is a large
AVA which comprises 7,400 acres, Calera's are the only
vineyards in the Mt. Harlan Viticultural Area.
This
is just the second bottling from the new Ryan Vineyard,
named after the vineyard manager, Jim Ryan. The moderate
amount of fruit harvested in 2003 has again shown
the phenomenal
potential
of this vineyard. Sweet varietal aromas are enhanced
with
the scent of strawberries and violets. The 2003 Ryan
is an elegant wine with tantalizing flavors of cola,
strawberry, plum, mineral, black tea and a hint of
toasty oak. Its structure is firm yet refined with
moderate
tannin, round supple texture and well-balanced acidity.
Most
good California Pinot Noirs need a few
years of bottle age to
begin to express the
non-fruit, secondary flavors that can make this varietal
so enticing.
Calera’s Ryan Vineyard Pinot, however, tastes complete
and complex
virtually from the start. It ages very well, becoming
ever more nuanced, but does not need much extra time
to be delicious.
"I
like to call Pinot Noir the 'especially' grape,”
Jensen explains, “because
almost any generalization you can make about grapes
and wine is
especially true with Pinot Noir.”
Calera