Calera Wines - (6) bottles included

2012 Pinot Noir - Jensen Vineyard

2016 Pinot Noir- Mills Vineyard

2017 Pinot Noir - Ryan Vineyard

2017 Pinot Noir- de Villiers Vineyard

2019 Pinot Noir - Jensen Vineyard

2018 Chardonnay - Mt Harlan Vineyard

A History of Calera Wines

Calera has been honored by Wine & Spirits as one of the “Top 100 Wineries in the World” four times, with Robert Parker calling Calera “California’s Romanée-Conti”. Josh Jensen, the founder of Calera winery, became a pioneer in American Pinot Noir. Taking his cue from the great domaines of Burgundy, which have grown grapes in limestone soil for centuries, he set out in search of the perfect spot in California to create wines unique to the world but in the style of the greatest wines of France.

In the early 1970s, after studying at Yale and Oxford, Jensen was exploring Europe, when a desire to try his hand at vineyard work led him to Romanée-Conti, where he worked harvest. Inspired by his experience at the famed Pinot Noir estate, the following year he deepened his understanding of great Pinot Noir at Domaine Dujac. Returning to the United States, he began a quest to create a style of Pinot Noir that had not previously been realized. Jensen spent two years searching for land rich in limestone, like the vineyards he most admired in Burgundy. In 1974, he found what he was looking for on the steep slopes of Mount Harlan, a 3,278-foot peak in the Gavilan Mountains of Ca;iformai’s Central Coast that divide Monterey and San Benito counties.

The following year, while living in a trailer on the remote property with his wife and small child, Jensen founded Calera, the Spanish word for “limekiln” and began planting his first three estate vineyards: Jensen, Reed, Selleck. In 1977 Calera purchased property to build the winery on a 100 acre site on Cienega Road halfway between the vineyard and the town of Hollister.

Jensen played a pivotal role in establishing Pinot Noir as one of North America’s great varietal wines and built Calera into one of the world’s most revered wineries. Jensen was named the San Francisco Chronicle’s “Winemaker of the Year,” honored as a “Rockstar of Wine” at World of Pinot Noir, and has graced the cover of Wine Spectator. Today Calera wines still express that pioneer spirit and are revered the world over. Robert Parker believes "Calera is one of the most compelling Pinot Noir specialists of not only the New World, but of Planet Earth."

Central Coast:

Calera purchases Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes from growers throughout the Central Coast Region of California to be made into Calera’s Central Coast wines. The vineyard sources for these wines have remained fairly consistent, however small quantities of fruit from newly available vineyards are included almost every year:

Pinot Noir

Bien Nacido Vineyard - Santa Barbara County

Chula Viña Vineyard – Monterey County

Doctor's Vineyard - Monterey County

Flint Vineyard – San Benito County

Laetitia Vineyard – San Luis Obispo County

Pedregal Vineyard – San Benito County

Sierra Madre Vineyard – Santa Barbara County

Solomon Hills Vineyard – Santa Barbara County

Chardonnay

Besson Vineyard – Santa Clara County

Bien Nacido Vineyards – Santa Barbara County

Cienega Valley Vineyards – San Benito County

Lone Oak Vineyard – Monterey County

Pedregal Vineyards – San Benito County

Sierra Madre Vineyards – Santa Barbara County

Talley Vineyard – San Luis Obispo County

Zabala Vineyards – Monterey County

Donated by William O'Donnell

A Sine Qua Non: A Shot in the Dark

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