The story of how California pinot pioneer Josh Jensen found the spot that became Calera has often been told: California guy is captivated by Burgundy after working a couple of harvests there in the early 1970s. He returns to California and searches for a location with the right climate and with limestone soils, which he sees as critical to producing good pinot noir.
After an extensive search, he finds a remote parcel in San Benito County, outside the town of Hollister. Jensen establishes Calera in 1975, naming it for the lime kiln (calera in Spanish) found on the property.
To mark the 50th anniversary of Calera’s founding, the winery recently held a retrospective tasting of some of its pinot noirs. Jensen sold Calera to Duckhorn in 2017 because none of his children were interested in taking over the winery. Jensen died in 2022; the company is now owned by a private equity firm, although winemaker Mike Waller has remained throughout the transitions. Attendees at the tasting noted how much Jensen’s absence was felt at the occasion.
One feature that differentiated Calera from the beginning was that Jensen kept distinct parcels separate and bottled the wines with a vineyard designation. That practice is common now, but a lot of people thought it was folly back in the ‘70s. The retrospective tasting focused on pinots from the Reed and Jensen vineyards, two of the original parcels, and the clear differences between the two over the years are a vindication of Jensen’s vision. A third parcel, Selleck, was also planted in 1975; three more have been added since. There’s also some chardonnay and viognier.
The area encompassing Calera was designated an American Viticultural Area, Mt. Harlan, in 1990. All of Calera’s vineyards produce tiny yields, typically around a ton to the acre. The vineyards were certified organic in 2008, although Waller said Jensen started using organic practices well before that.
I’ve always thought that Calera’s vineyard-designate pinots were more about structure, savoriness and minerality than about sweet or jammy fruit, making them good candidates for aging, and the tasting confirmed my opinion. (There’s a Central Coast pinot bottling that’s more conventionally fruity.) The wines in the tasting encompassed six vintages from both Reed and Jensen vineyards, with the oldest being from 1985. All the wines were poured from 750-milliliter bottles from the winery’s library. Waller joined the winery in 2007, so he had a hand in about half the wines.
We started with Reed, a vineyard on a north-facing slope that usually is the last to ripen, Waller said. The current release, 2022 ($100) – from a vintage that saw a reduced crop because of frost – is racy and structured, with juicy raspberry and wet stone flavors and a long, drying finish. The 2016 was starting to develop a brickish color and displayed lovely red fruit flavors and some savory notes, along with firm structure. 2008 and 1996 were both quite savory and just starting to show some age.
To me, the most eye-opening Reed wines were the 1989 and 1985. The 1989, from a much-maligned vintage, was really delicious, with savory red fruit, notes of soy sauce and celery seed, and a long finish. And the 1985 was extraordinary at 40 years of age – slightly smoky and savory, with pretty red fruit and still-firm structure.
The Jensen vineyard is hilly and divided into four blocks, with different exposures. “We call it the amphitheater,” Waller said. It’s situated about a quarter-mile away from Reed. The 2022 Jensen ($130) – like the Reed, from a small vintage – is still quite closed, with structured, spicy red fruit. The 2014 was from a drought year, when Waller said they had to truck in water to keep the vines alive. The wine is still quite dark and youthful and would benefit from more aging. The 2007 could still age a few years, but it’s amazing now, with ample, concentrated dark fruit and firm structure.
From looking at the color, you’d never guess that the 1997 Jensen is nearly 30 years old. It’s dark and juicy, with concentrated fruit and a hint of celery seed. The 1987, on the other hand, is starting to show its age, with a brickish color, red fruit and notes of smoke and celery seed.
Finally, the 1985 Jensen also shows its age in its color and flavors. Still, it’s structured, with a long finish.
After the tasting, we had the opportunity to taste current releases of the winery’s other vineyard-designated pinot noirs. The 2022 de Villiers ($100) offers warm, juicy raspberry fruit with a mineral note. The 2022 Ryan ($100), from the highest-elevation block, has a darker fruit profile, firm structure and a long finish. The 2022 Selleck ($130) displayed the purest fruit expression, along with some notes of spice and wet stone. It, too, is quite structured, with a long finish.
A word about the chardonnays: The Calera Mt. Harlan chardonnay, unlike many California chardonnays, really benefits from a few years of age. The current vintage, 2021 ($65), is still quite tight and showing a fair amount of oak. But the 2017, which we were served as we arrived at the tasting, has come into its own: vibrant and a little tropical, with mango and lemon curd flavors, accented by wet stone and some toastiness.