Calera - Pinot Noir Ryan Vineyard 2014
Pairing Suggestions
Calera - Pinot Noir Ryan Vineyard 2014 (91 TSW)
Calera’s six single-vineyard Pinot Noirs are notable for their minerality and are typically medium-weight and delicate in style with snappy acidity. The winery also produces three regional blends of Pinot, Chardonnay and Viognier from the Central Coast. In 2017 Napa Valley–based Merlot specialist Duckhorn Wine Company purchased Calera, from founder Josh Jensen.
This Pinot Noir vines are located in the Gavilan Mountains 25 miles east of the Monterey Bay. The site was chosen for its limestone soils and ideal climate. At an average elevation of 2,200 feet it is among the highest and coolest vineyard sites in California.
Little rainfall in 2014 led them into our third year of a drought. Warm spring temperatures and brilliant sunshine through the summer made for a fantastic growing season, but yields were severely affected by the lack of rainwater. This made for a fast, furious and early harvest. They picked the Ryan vineyard in three passes from September 4th to September 10th. Each lot was pressed 14 days after harvest, racked by gravity to French oak barrels, then aged without racking in those barrels, 30% new, for twenty months. The lots were then combined and the resultant wine was bottled without filtration.
My tasting notes:
In the glass a dark ruby color with purple reflections.
On the medium+ nose aromas of dark cherries, strawberries and plums with hints of violets, mint and light barrique.
On the palate dry, medium++ bodied with medium+ acidity and fine grained tannins. Concentrated and balanced with nice complexity with flavours of strawberries, pepper, smoke and wet forest floor. Still very young and powerful.