2017 | Calera Wine Company | Ryan Vineyard Pinot Noir

Red Wine: 2017 | Calera Wine Company | Ryan Vineyard Pinot Noir

The 2017 vintage displays a medley of red and dark fruit, including raspberry, black cherry, and blackcurrant, complemented by notes of savoury herbs, earthiness and a touch of spice.

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Producer: Calera Wine Company

Ratings: WA | 92 WE | 93

Vintage: 2017

Size: 750ml

ABV: 14.8%

Varietal: Pinot Noir

Country/Region: United States, California

The 2017 vintage displays a medley of red and dark fruit, including raspberry, black cherry, and blackcurrant, complemented by notes of savoury herbs, earthiness and a touch of spice. The acidity contributes to its freshness and structure, while its fine-grained tannins provide a silky, elegant texture.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The 2017 Pinot Noir Ryan Vineyard, aged 17 months in 30% new French oak, has a pale to medium ruby-purple color and is youthful and shy to begin. With coaxing, aromas of prosciutto, wild blackberries, lemon peel and redcurrants emerge, with nuances of oolong tea leaves and dusty earth. Medium-bodied, it’s broody and earthy with lifted citrusy accents in the mouth, a finely grained frame and juicy freshness on the finish.

• Wine Enthusiast: Baked cherry, star anise, clove and chai elements show on the ripe and spicy nose of this bottling, which was harvested after this vintages huge Labor Day heat spike. The wine is rich, heavy and layered on the palate, with black plum flavors coated in cardamom and sagebrush.

Producer Information

Calera Wine Company is a well-regarded wine estate based in Mt Harlan in California’s San Benito County. Calera, which is named for an on-site lime kiln, is notable for its limestone-rich soils, a rarity in California. Pinot Noir is the key grape variety here, making several single-vineyard wines. Winemaker Josh Jensen trained in Burgundy, working a harvest at Domaine de la Romane-Conti and later interning at Domaine Dujac. It was there that he learned that Pinot Noir and Chardonnay thrive on limestone soils, so upon returning to the US, he went in search for that terroir. In 1974, he purchased land that was once a limestone quarry on Mt Harlan, and planted 10 hectares (24 acres) of Pinot Noir in 1975. The first vintage from the vineyard was in 1978, and since then the estate has been expanded to include plantings of Chardonnay, Viognier and Aligot. Today, Calera makes six different single-vineyard Pinot Noir wines, as well as an estate Chardonnay, Viognier and Aligot. The estate vineyards cover 85 acres (34 hectares). Mt Harlan lies in the Gavilan Mountain Range, at 2200ft (670m) above sea level. With a strong coastal influence from the Monterey Bay Coast, it is one of the coolest vineyard sites in California. The Jensen single-vineyard Pinot Noir is highly regarded; other single-vineyard wines include Selleck, Reed, Mills, Ryan, and de Villiers. All of Calera’s wines get very good press, and he is considered to be one of the best producers of Pinot Noir in California. Napa Valley-based Duckhorn Wine Company (itself owned by San Francisco-based private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners) bought Calera in 2017 for an undisclosed sum.