Calera Pinot Noir 2022

This Will Fly!  Benchmark California Pinot, 93 Pts Under $22
“Calera is one of the most compelling Pinot Noir specialists of not only the New World, but of Planet Earth.”  – Robert Parker

This wine normally does not need an email.  It sells itself with little promotion.  But after tasting, we had to act quickly.  We have a one-time shot at one of California’s benchmark Pinot Noir producers, under $23.  If you love great California Pinot, move fast.  This is the singular buy for the fall and holiday season.   
 
The wine is Calera’s 2022 Pinot Noir (check out the ratings at the price point), founded by the godfather of California Pinot Noir, Josh Jensen.  There is no one in California’s history who has been more influential at elevating domestic Pinot Noir to global acclaim than Josh Jensen.  Since his debut vintage in 1978, Josh Jensen has shown he has the magic touch with Pinot Noir.  A native of the Bay Area, Jensen grew up on the East Coast and attended college in England.  While Jensen’s friends pursued careers in finance, law and banking after school, Jensen had caught the wine bug thanks to George Selleck, a collector and close friend of his father’s.  In 1970, Jensen worked the harvest at Domaine de la Romanee-Conti.  An internship at Domaine Dujac followed in 1971.  Later that fall, Jensen returned to California with a mission: to find a site rich in the limestone he had been trained in Burgundy to covet, an incredibly rare and difficult feat. With persistence and vigor, he succeeded and the rest is history.    
 
Whether featured on the cover of the Wine Spectator, named one of the top 100 Wineries by Wine & Spirts or clinching 95+ scores from Robert Parker, Calera’s brilliant Pinot Noirs from Mount Harlan have set the bar for what’s possible in California.  Robert Parker has praised Jensen’s work at Calera, stating they are “one of the most compelling Pinot Noir specialists of not only the New World, but of Planet Earth.”

This is a phenomenal buy from one of the most influential Pinot Noir producers in California’s history.  This wine is an enigma at $22.99 and should be snatched up!      

This beautifully lush and supple Pinot Noir draws you in with inviting aromas of raspberry, dark cherry, dried sage and sweet tobacco leaf. On the palate, soft, supple tannins frame alluring layers of wild strawberry and Bing cherry, with hints of cracked black pepper and spice emerging on a long, satisfying finish. Winemaker

This priced-to-sell appellation blend gives hints of what the single-vineyard expressions can do in a more accessible manner. Aromas of pomegranate, green peppercorn and oregano decorate the nose. The palate shows baked plum and strawberry flavors as well as Calera’s telltale showing of terpeneladen herbs like bay leaf and marjoram. 93pts WE

The 2022 Pinot Noir Central Coast is one of the few fully destemmed wines in the Calera portfolio. It’s packed with sweet cherry-berry fruit, citrus peel lift and savory, earthy undertones. Morello cherry and marionberry join nips of blood orange zest, sweet tobacco and lavender, blossoming with air to reveal their charms. Linear and driven through the finish, this cleans up nicely and refreshes the palate. This is one heck of a wine at the appellation level, and it’s a great choice for drinking in the near term while you await the 2021s to emerge from their thousand-year slumber. 91pts Vinous