Calera Mt Hollister Ryan Vineyard Pinot Noir 2011

Calera Mt Hollister Ryan Vineyard Pinot Noir 2011 

We cleaned out the cheese drawer …. (Yes we have a whole drawer in the fridge devoted to cheese), and I pulled from the cellar a nice easy sipping wine to complement a selection of cheeses, biscuits and home-made cookies. 

We don’t do a lot of Pinot but this is one of our favorite producers with a storied history. 

Here are excerpts of earlier posts on this producer and this label of similar situations. 

Back in 2023, I wrote:

Calera Ryan Vineyard Pinot Noir 

Following our selection of Pinot Noirs tasted over the last week and a half, we continued the hit parade with another Pinot from another favorite producer and label from our cellar collection.

As featured in these pages, we had the Belle Glos Clark & Telephone Pinot Noir at the Beach Walk Café, Henderson Park Inn, in Destin FL, then the Belle Glos Las Alturas Pinot Noir at Firefly Grill Effingham, IL, then the Belle Glos RRV Dairyman Vineyard Pinot Noir upon our return home. 

So, tonight I was eager to try another Pinot from our cellar collection to continue the comparison tastings of select Pinot Noirs. As I wrote in the earlier posts, in the midst of summer, its was a nice departure from the big bold hearty Syrah's/Shiraz's we enjoy, and the robust Bordeaux varietals to the finer, more refined, less bold and burdensome Pinot Noirs. Each of these tastings were delightful and frankly, exceeded our expectations for a ideal accompaniment to our various entrees. 

 For casual sipping and pairing with food, we started with a cheese plate with assorted crackers, fresh berries, honey and chocolate. 

Linda then prepared an imaginative cheese bread baked with fresh berry compote and fresh blueberries. The combination with the paired Pinot Noir was spectacular for an extraordinary, fabulous food and wine tasting experience.

I write often in the pages about the importance of pairing the food and wine, and how it can often multiply the enjoyment of both when done properly. 

Calera Mt. Harlan Ryan Vineyard Pinot Noir

With a single designated Vineyard bearing the name of our eldest son, we typically reserve this wine for a family gathering or tasting when he is with us. But, tonight's tasting was special considering the odyssey we've been on the last two weeks, with the multitude of wine and food pairings. And this is a special signature wine we collect in light it being our son's namesake vineyard. 

I love telling the story about the discovery of this producer and wine. I have written that I initially learned about Josh Jenson and his legendary Calera Vineyards were featured in Marc Devillier's wonderful 1994 book - The Heartbreak Grape,  A California Winemakers Search for the Perfect Pinot Noir by Marc de Villiers, 1994, Harper Collins.

As featured in earlier posts in these pages:

The Calera story was chronicled in the book, "The Heart Break Grape" back in the early nineties, about the challenges and turmoils of growing the finicky grape varietal Pinot Noir. 

Producer Josh Jensen pioneered growing Pinot in the 'new world' starting with his search of the perfect place to grow his grapes. During college he took time off to work in the cellars in the great domaines of Burgundy and then came back to his home state California to apply what he had learned. At the time, prevailing view was that Pinot Noir could not be grown successfully in California. He set out to prove that notion wrong.

"The Heartbreak Grape: A California Winemaker's Search for the Perfect Pinot Noir" tells the tale of Josh's quest to grow the very finnicky Pinot Noir grape in California in the early days before Pinot was cultivated here. In pursuit of his dream to create authentic Burgundian style wines, he sought to find the place in California suitable to achieve that goal. 

Devillers tells of Jenson's quest and research to find the right terrior - all the attributes of the right location, soil, climate, drainage, and other nuances of 'place' that make up the character and personality of a wine from grapes of a particular site. Josh chose Mt. Harlan, an area not then know for grapes or winemaking. 

The rest, as they say, is history. While it is a human interest tale, it also provides a rich insight into the challenges and travails of setting up a winery, and a business, and achieving one's dream to make noteworthy wines. 

He returned from France in 1971 and spent two years searching throughout California to find suitable limestone soils. He settled on the site of an old magnificently preserved 30 foot tall masonry limekiln in the Gavilan Mountains of Central California, purchasing the site in 1974, a high-elevation parcel with a limestone deposit of several million tons. Limestone had been commercially quarried there on the Jensen Mt. Harlan property a hundred years earlier. 

The Calera organically farmed Mt. Harlan vineyards are in the Gavilan Mountains, 25 miles east of Monterey Bay. The Ryan Vineyard, like Calera's others, has limestone soils, which are prized above any other soil type for growing Pinot Noir. Combined with the vineyard's average elevation of 2,200 feet--among the highest and coolest in California--the result is structured, intense Pinot.

To this day, the kiln on the site is the centerpiece of Calera branding, featured prominently on the lables, the name “Calera” being the Spanish world for “limekiln,”

Mt Harlan is near the town of Hollister, about ninety miles south of San Fransisco, twenty five miles inland from Monterey Bay on the Pacific Coast. Mt Harlan gained the distinction of its own AVA (American Viticultural Area) in 1990, in response to the petition to the Department of the Treasury Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau by Josh Jensen and the Calera Wine Company, the only commercial winery in the appellation. The appellation, the legally defined and protected geographical boundaries, also stipulates what grapes may be grown, maximum grape yields, alcohol level, and other quality factors that apply before the appellation name may legally appear on a wine bottle label. The Mt Harlan AVA is 7700 acres of which just 100 are planted in vines. 

Josh planted his first 24 acres of pinot noir in 1975 in three separate parcels. In the Burgundian tradition, he named each parcel individually to recognize the terroir of each, that each would produce a distinct wine. 

Calera Pinot Noirs are single vineyard designated meaning they are each named for and produced from fruit sourced from one vineyard each. Their five vineyards planted in Pinot Noir are named for Josh's father (Jenson), Mills, a neighbor who mentored Josh in his early years, Reed, for one of Josh's dear friends and early investors, and in this case Selleck, for a family friend whom Josh attributes to introducing him to wine.

The original vineyard designations remain to this day, the Selleck Vineyard (5 acres), Reed Vineyard (5 acres), and Jensen Vineyard (14 acres). These vineyards produced their initial tiny crop in 1978.The Ryan Vineyards, named after Jim Ryan, longtime vineyard manager were added later.  (Upper - 9.4 acres and Lower – 3.7 acres)

 Josh made Calera's first wine in 1975, 1000 cases of zinfandel, produced from purchased grapes. During his first two years as a winemaker, he made the Calera wines in a rented space in a larger nearby winery.   

Josh purchased property to build the winery in 1977, a 100 acre site on Cienega Road halfway between the vineyard and the town of Hollister. Located 1000 feet lower in elevation than the vineyard, this property had the benefits of development improvements such as a paved road,  telephone and electrical service (services which still to this day are unavailable on Mt. Harlan).

Three decades later, Calera have earned the distinction of the pioneer of American Pinot Noir. The legendary wine critic Robert Parker  has stated that: "Calera is one of the most compelling Pinot Noir specialists of not only the New World, but of Planet Earth."   

We first discovered Calera in the eighties, exploring wines from those earliest vintages. Decades later, we enjoy collecting Calera wines from the Ryan and Reed vineyards, as somewhat namesake signature wines for Son Ryan and his Reid. 

The Calera vineyards are enumerated and featured on the rear bottle label of the bottles as shown here. They are perhaps the most comprehensive and informative labels one will find anywhere on a bottle of wine. They spell out the information on the vineyard, geography, altitude, plantings, vines, the vintage and the bottling. The rear label itself makes for interesting reading, and insightful comparisons across the vineyards or vintages if one happens to have such bottles.

The Calera branding features the historic massive 30 foot tall limestone kiln that sits on the property from earlier days quarrying and processing limestone. Noting limestone in the soils of the legendary French Burgundy region, Jenson scoured the US seeking similar terroir to site his vineyards to produce Pinot Noir. He found such terroir and thoughtfully chose the property in the Central Coast region of California. The name Calera translates to 'limekiln' in in Spanish.

Easter Celebration Dinner Wine Flight

Gala Easter Celebration Family Dinner with Wine Flight

The family gathered at our house for a gala Easter celebration dinner including an Easter Egg hunt for the (grand) children. We were joined by cousin, niece Becky and husband Keith, visiting for the weekend, and in-laws, Frank and Marylisa visiting the new parent kids and newest grandaughter Marylin, in from Naples. 

Linda prepared an extensive dinner with salad, baked ham, scalloped potatoes, french toast, baked beans, baked pineapple and apples, steamed broccoli and more. Prior to dinner we served a selection of artisan cheeses with crackers, fresh shrimp cocktail, smoked salmon, a broad assortment of French pastry maccaroons, fresh fruit, and other delectables.

I pulled from the cellar a flight of wines for the various courses.

Besserat de Bellefon - Cuvée des Moines brut Rosé Champagne 

Long Shadows Dance Columbia Valley Chardonnay 2019 

Calera Ryan's Vineyard Mt Hollister Pinot Noir 2010

Cliff Lede Napa Valley Diamond Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 

Les Brulières de Beychevelle 2016

Besserat de Bellefon "Cuvee des Moines" Brut Rosé Champagne

The Maison Besserat de Bellefon was founded in Aÿ in 1843 by Edmond Besserat. Originally from Hautvillers, he imposed his artisanal know-how creating cuvées that he sold to renowned hotels, restaurants and wine merchants of the day. After Edmond, his grandsons, Victor and Edmond, followed in his footsteps continuing his pursuit of excellence and high standards, one as technician, the other as emeritus taster. 

In 1920, the marriage of Edmond with Yvonne de Méric de Bellefon, of the noble Champagne house, sealed the beginning of the legend of Champagne Besserat de Bellefon and endowed the House with the family coat of arms.

This label, the Cuvée des Moines was conceived in 1930, comprised of a selection of the best Champagne wines. In the best vintage years, Besserat de Bellefon selects the best plots to produce the best wines of Champagne. 

Each non-vintage Besserat de Bellefon cuvée rests in the cellar for a minimum of three years; the vintage cuvée remains there for a minimum of five years, ageing in the cellar much longer than the minimum period required by the Appellation.

Besserat de Bellefon "Cuvee des Moines" Brut Rosé Champagne

This label of Besserat de Bellefon Cuvee des Moines Brut Rose is now part of the house of Besserat de Bellefon Simplicité Line in the brand portfolio. 

Besserat Bellefon produces a range of pure, fresh, lean and elegant low-pressure wines that do not undergo the typical malolactic fermentation. The Champagnes of Besserat de Bellefon are unique in that they are made at only 4.5 atmospheres of pressure across the range rather than the standard 6. The resulting quality, first-class Champagnes are made specifically to be paired with food, or are ideal served as aperitifs or celebratory sipping.

The NV Brut Rosé Cuvée des Moines is a blend of 45% Meunier, 25% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay.

This release was rated 92 points by Wine Spectator, 90 points James Suckling and Robert Parker's Wine Advocate.

Bright golden pink orange colored, ripe and tangy red boysenberry and yellow peach fruits are framed by crisp juicy dry acidity, chalk and smoke notes with hints of almond, lemon and ginger accents on the finish.

RM 92 points.

https://www.besseratdebellefon.com/index-en.php

https://twitter.com/BesseratB

@BesseratB

Long Shadows "Dance" Columbia Valley Chardonnay 2019

This label, Dance has special significance in that our daughter-in-law Vivianna's sister, Grace, was a career professional performing arts dancer having studied dance at New York Fordham University and then traveling with the world famous Alvin Ailey dance troupe. 

It was a great fun to serve this in tribute to Grace, who was just engaged to be married, to Vivianna and their parents, Frank and Marylisa, who joined us for our festive holiday dinner.

As written in this pages a couple of weeks ago, we discovered this label on the Catch 35 wine list during our dinner there a couple of weeks ago. We've been Long Shadows Key Club Members since our visit to the Woodinville tasting room during our Washington Wine Experience when we visited the winery tasting room in Woodinville back in the fall of 2018.

We receive a case of Long Shadows wines every quarter and hold several cases of their labels in our cellar and this was the first time we have seen or heard about this label, purported to be the latest addition to the portfolio.

Following our enjoyment of this wine at our recent dinner, I promptly called Long Shadows and ordered a case of this limited release label, "Dance" as part of my wine club entitlement allocation. 

Winemaker's Tasting Notes - A layered, aromatic wine that displays minerality and white blossom fragrances with flavors of white peach, apple and a hint of baking spice woven throughout a subtle, creamy texture.

The aromas intrigue on the nose, with notes of clarified butter, straw, spice and pumpkin. The palate shows depth and breadth to the stone fruit flavors but also sophistication. The balance is exquisite.

The result is a rich, yet refined Chardonnay with a beautiful viscosity that carries the mid-palate
while the acidity persists across a lengthy finish.

Light straw colored, medium bodied, rich crisp clean green apple with notes of baking spice, pumpkin, stone fruit and hint of citrus on a bright tangy finish.

93 Points

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3322908

https://longshadows.com/

https://twitter.com/LongShadowsWine

@LongShadowsWine

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2022/04/catch35-naperville-seafood-and-wine.html
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2022/04/catch35-naperville-seafood-and-wine.html

Calera Ryan's Vineyard Mt Hollister Pinot Noir 2010

In the spirit of the family celebration, I pulled from the cellar a birthyear vintage wine of our eldest grand-daughter, Lucy, this single vineyard designated wine from an estate vineyard with son Ryan's name. 

Calera are one of the legendary classic California Pinot Noirs. Founder Josh Jenson was the pioneer of California Pinot Noir. 

As I have written in these pages, any lover of Pinot Noir would benefit from reading The Heartbreak Grape,  A California Winemakers Search for the Perfect Pinot Noir by Marc de Villiers, 1994, Harper Collins.  

This is a wonderful true story that starts when Devillers becomes captivated by a wine served at a holiday party. The story evolves as his journalistic curiosity leads to researching the wine and its origins - the story of  Josh Jensen and Calera winery. 

He chronicles the challenges and travails of developing the Pinot Noir grape in California, and then turning it into a business, an industry, and pursuing a dream. 

 

The name Heartbreak Grape speaks to the challenge of pioneering bringing the Pinot Noir grape varietal to America - finding the right terrior, climate, terrain, soil, drainage - all the elements required to produce this wine. It then follows the story of an entrepreneur following his dream to build a business and a brand.  

 

From the namesake vineyard bearing son Ryan's name, I keep a half dozen vintages a label in our cellar for tasting during such family gatherings. This, 2010 vintage release, is the oldest in our cellar, selecting the oldest as part of appropriate cellar management. 

We've held onto this vintage release since it is a birthyear wine of one of our grandchildren. Also, it was the special 35th Anniversary Release Vintage, hence I was holding it for the possibility of gifting it or serving it from someone's 35th Anniversary celebration. 

Calera is an oenphile's wine - the rear label is one of the most imformative of any producer's label I know of, with detailed information on the vineyard, geography, harvest, location and terroir including a map of the estate of the vineyard sites.  

As shown, this release is 100% Calera Estate fruit from the 13 acre Ryan Vineyard at 2200 feet elevation on Mt Harlan in the Gavilan Mountains nine miles from Holister, California, twenty miles inland from Monterey Carmel on the Pacific Coast, ninety miles south of San Francisco.

In any event, this label was awarded 94 points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 92 points and *Cellar Selection* by Wine Enthusiast and "Outstanding" by Allen Meadows - Burghound.

Dark ruby colored, starting to take on a slight bit of discoloration at a dozen years of age, medium bodied, the complex flavors of plum, dark cherry and dried rose petals are showing slight diminution of the fruit from aging, turning to a textured tangy acidic firm tannin laced lingering finish. 

RM 88 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1546892

https://www.calerawine.com/

https://twitter.com/calerawine 

@CaleraWine

Ryan brought from home the remains of a bottle he had opened the night before. 

Cliff Lede Napa Valley Diamond Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2015

Our visits to the Cliff Lede estate winey and vineyards have been a highlight of several of our Napa Valley Wine Experiences. Since son Ryan and fellow Pour Boy Bill C both are club members and receive regular vintage release allocations of this producer, we opt to collect a different producer, thereby affording all of a greater variety of tasting experiences. 

This Diamond Mountain appellation label is one of Ryan's favorites from his broad collection from this producer. We've enjoyed several vintages of this label with Ryan and Bill. 

Winery notes: "Our Diamond Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon comes from exceptional, low-yielding vineyards with volcanic ash and gravelly loam soils in the Diamond Mountain appellation, nestled in the Mayacamas Range on the northwest side of Napa Valley. The sun-drenched mountain vineyards have late afternoon breezes that ripen the fruit slowly and evenly. Both sites are planted to extraordinary old vines on a steep incline with historic Napa field selections and produce age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon with dark fruit, intense structure, minerality, and perfume." 

This was dark garnet colored, full bodied, complex, rich concentrated brooding layered black berry and black raspberry fruits accented by notes of graphite, dark mocha chocolate, tobacco leaf, leather and smoke on a tongue coating long finish. 

RM 93 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3145685

https://www.ledefamilywines.com/

 

@CliffLedeWine 

Les Brulières de Beychevelle Haut Medoc 2016

I found this label at Binny's, our wine and beverage super store recently. We know this producer well, having visited the Chateau Beychevelle estate vineyards and winery in St Julien Bordeaux during our visit to the region and appellation a couple of years ago.  

We hold several vintages of the grand vin Chateau Beychevelle dating back more than three decades, but have never seen this more pedestrian entry level label from this producer, so I was compelled to pick some up to try.

Clearly not the grand vin, or their second label sophistication or quality, but at a fraction of the price, this represented reasonable QPR - Quality Price Ratio for simpler every day sipping, a 'pizza' wine as I refer to such wines. Notably, this is a Haut-Medoc appellation labeled wine, not from the more prestigious and distinctive St Julien appellation.

Dark garnet colored, medium-full bodied, black cherry and black plum fruits accented by notes of smoke, herbs, green pepper, leather and a bit of wet earth and tar with a bright tangy acidic finish. 

RM 88 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3107238

https://beychevelle.com/

https://twitter.com/Beychevelle1855 

@Beychevelle1855