Calera Central Coast Pinot Noir

Calera’s Central Coast wines are made from grapes grown by selected vineyards in California’s Central Coast Viticultural Area. Viticulture/Vinification San Felipe Vineyard – Santa Clara County Laetitia Vineyard – San Luis Obispo County Chula Viña – Monterey County Idyll Times Vineyard – San Benito County Pedregal Vineyard – Santa Clara County Flint Vineyard – San Benito County Spring Grove Vineyard – San Benito County. Total Acidity: 6.2 g/l; Final pH: 3.63 All lots were fermented with native yeasts in small, open top fermenters. After fourteen days the wines were pressed, settled overnight, and then moved by gravity to Calera’s barrel cellar. The wine was aged without racking in mostly French oak Barrels, 10% new, for eleven months. The vineyard lots were combined priori to bottling and the wine was bottled unfiltered. Vintage Report We had another cool year in 2011. The early spring was wet and cold delaying bud break by a few weeks. With colder summer temperatures averaging in the low 70’s we were forced to hang the fruit a month later than usual, but to our surprise the waiting brought us rich and acidic wines without the high brix. The Central Coast Pinot was picked from September 27 th - October 24 th. 

Calera Wine Company's history goes back 30 years, to when Josh Jensen fell in love with the wines of Burgundy and decided to turn that love into his life's work. Calera's mountainous, limestone-laden vineyards produce grapes of great depth, character and longevity.Limestone had been commercially quarried from Jensen's Mt. Harlan property a hundred years earlier. Next to his vineyards, there stands a magnificently well-preserved 30-foot tall masonry limekiln. The name "Calera" is the Spanish word for "limekiln," which serves as the winery's symbol and appears on every bottle of wine.The wines of Calera include 5 single vineyard Pinot Noirs, Chardonnay, Viognier and Dessert Viognier from the Mt. Harlan appellation, and Pinot Noir & Chardonnay from the wider reaching Central Coast appellation. Calera is one of the most compelling Pinot Noir specialists of not only the New World, but of Planet Earth - Robert Parker Winemaker of the Year 2007 - San Francisco Chronicle Winery of the Year 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011 - Wine & Spirits Magazine