Sommelier Journal, July 2009  

INTERVIEW Josh Jensen, Calera Wine Company, Mount Harlan, California Catherine Fallis, MS, ACWP Limestone is the magic ingredient for this neo-Burgundian winemaker perched atop the Gabilan Mountains.

Calera had been on my radar from the earliest days of my wine education. I had read about it in the textbooks for Harriet Lembeck’s wine course, a prerequisite for my job at Windows on the World in New York City. When Kevin Zraly finally hired me there, I found several Calera wines on his carefully crafted list, and by then I knew that any winery with multiple listings …

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Winemaker Bill Brousseau is a Monterey native with family roots in grape growing, but his sensibilities are distinctly Burgundian when it comes to his beautifully expressive Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. This 2007 Testarossa Pinot Noir Sleepy Hollow Vineyard Monterey $54 has notes of strawberry, raspberry, peach, spearmint, hay bale, sage brush, dried flowers, and cinnamon. It is velvety in texture with dried raspberries and earth on the palate, fresh natural acidity, and seamlessly integrated oak.

The Sanford and Benedict Vineyard was the first to be planted to Pinot Noir here in the cool, coastal Sta. Rita Hills of Santa Barbara. This 2007 Sanford Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard $60 is a delicious, full-bodied expression of this delicate, flowery, berry-infused varietal. It is silky and round with seductive berry fruit and has some light earthy and smokey notes.