Recently, I was climbing over a fence in a skirt, trying not to fall on my face. To my left, a deer spine and hind leg snaked through the posts. It was cold; nose-running, eyes-watering cold and windy, and little rain drops were starting to knife their way down from dark clouds. At 2,200 feet above sea level, Mt Harlan seemed a magnet for the oncoming storm. On the other side of the fence laid the motivation for being out in this kind of weather, dressed so inappropriately. Josh Jensen’s Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines arched tightly up and down the hills, separated by blankets of bright green groundcover. I have to admit, I was freezing, and so didn’t walk far enough in the right direction to see the famed lime kiln for which the Calera Wine Company is named. I did, however, spot innumerable whitish pebbles sticking up out of the soil, belying the geological fact of a vast limestone deposit’s presence below.
Jensen’s vines are fairly widely spaced, as is true of most vineyards planted in the late 1970s. Sections have been replanted, but the Pinot remains entirely Calera clone, planted with cuttings taken from Chalone vineyards across the valley. The Calera Pinot vineyards (Selleck, Reed, Jensen, and Mills) produce wines of varying profiles, depending on their exact location, but all are unmistakably clear expressions of pure Pinot fruit. Of the 2005s tasted, my favorite was from the Jensen Vineyard as it jumped out of the glass with red fruit on the nose, and continued with structure on the palate, providing the "backbone" for the warm spice roundness. Good acidity carried the wine through to a long, balanced finish. Also of note, though not Pinot, was the Chardonnay Mt Harlan, with an equally vibrant nose and excellent clarity and focus from attack to mid-palate to finish.
If you have a free Sunday, take the beautiful drive toward Hollister and taste at Calera. Even if you don’t have time to break away, try a bottle of Josh Jensen’s Mt Harlan Pinot Noir or Chardonnay. You won’t be disappointed.
