2008 Calera Pinot Noir Ryan Vineyard 3L

2008 Calera Pinot Noir Ryan Vineyard 3L

2008 Calera Pinot Noir Ryan Vineyard 3L

2008 Ryan Pinot Noir is a graceful and inviting wine with a vibrant cranberry, black currant and rose petal bouquet. Beautifully integrated, bright flavors of rhubarb, tart cherry vanilla and the faintest hint of sandalwood grace the elegant structure and soft grip of fine tannins. A murmur of classic Mt Harlan limestone minerality progresses to a shy, mouthwatering finish. This is a wine to be enjoyed with a wonderful meal.

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate (91/100)
The 2008 Pinot Noir Ryan Vineyard comes across as soft, delicate and perfumed. Sweet red berries, crushed flowers, licorice and tobacco are some of the notes that flow from this understated Pinot. The Ryan Vineyard is already a touch forward, suggesting it is best enjoyed sooner rather than later. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2018.

Wine Enthusiast (90/100)
This bottling is always silky and accessible on release, and so it is with the 2008. It’s lighter in color than most of the top Pinots, but very complex, with wild berry, mushroom, cola and spice flavors, brightened with crisp acidity. Call it Burgundian. Lovely now as it warms in the glass, but will develop in the bottle.

In 1975, legendary vintner and American wine pioneer Josh Jensen founded Calera (Spanish for ‘lime kiln’) high in the remote Gavilan Mountains of California’s windswept Central Coast. There, in Mt. Harlan’s low-yielding, limestone-rich soils and cool, arid climate, he began planting what would ultimately become six small estate vineyards. Today, these vineyards are recognized as some of the New World’s most revered Pinot Noir sites.

Calera is a vision, and Calera’s wines truly express the sense of place. Rather than follow the recommended path, Josh Jensen 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. Site selection was vital as he ventured off the grid to plant on the site of an old limekiln in the Gavilan Mountains of California’s Central Coast.

Under the stewardship of Winemaker Mike Waller, each vineyard is renowned for producing singular wines of uncommon purity, elegance and aging potential. In addition to its beloved single-vineyard wines, Calera partners with some of the top vineyards on California’s majestic Central Coast to make Calera’s beautiful Central Coast wines, including a Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.