Calera Viognier: LA Times Wine Pick of the Week!

Burgundy lover Josh Jensen is one of the smartest winemakers in all of California, and his Calera winery is famous for its Pinot Noir. Jensen has France in his blood.

His chosen site - in limestone soils on high windy ridges inland and far away from any other vineyards - has paid off in spades over the years.

Therefore it's no surprise that his lovely Viognier vines, planted in 1983, continue to produce vibrant floral aromas that enticed the Los Angeles Times wine critic S. Irene Virbilia to select it as the Wine of the Week last week.

See her glowing comments here.

An aside: Sherry Virbilia is my old neighbor and friend - she sent me off on my first wine country trip in 1990 with her guidebook in hand.

Family Winemakers of California: The Organically Grown Among Them

The folks at Urban Legend (proprietor Steve Shaffer on the left) have the SB as well as a Lake County Riesling with grapes that are in transition to being certified

Voss was new to me - this one's got newly certified grapaes

You can sample the Voss Sauvignon Blanc at Napa Wine Co., says Voss marketing and sales coordinator Crista Johnson. The grapes are just about to be certified (this is the third year on the path to certification).

I hadn't met the folks at Canihan before either...they've got some pretty impressive awards under their belt

Looking forward to visiting Canihan soon - they're in Sonoma. That's Bill Canihan on the right.

Adastra of Carneros

The folks at legendary Calera have just started putting Certified Organic on their back label - Marta Rich shows it off with panache

Josh Jensen of Calera holds up a bottle of their Viognier (I can put their half bottles in my new app since they're under $20)

That would be Calera - for how many years now?

Bucklin and his infamous field blend map dating back to the mid 1800s

Richard Arrowood's Amapola Creek from Sonoma

Another label that I didn't know about and didn't know was organic - Audelessa - from Glen Ellen; Parker's a fan

Oakland's Aubin/Verve makes a Pinot Noir sourced from Oregon's Momtazi vineyard's biodynamic grapes

Greg Graziano from Mendocino has Eddie Graziano's organic Zin (but it's almost all gone)

And the always impressive Grgich Hills (completely biodynamic)

Mila Handley from Handley Cellars - I saw some newbies here getting blown away (and rightly so) by their sparkling rose (I agree - it's soooo good)

Spencer (of Elizabeth Spencer) and I had a brief chat about how do you know something is organic if it's from Italy...to be continued

The always wonderful Mike Dashe and I realized we both worked together at Apple long, long ago (a previous lifetime, to be sure) - I am a  huge fan of the wines he makes from McFadden's grapes

Corley of Monticello has some in transition wines

I ran into the wonderful former wine director of Fish Ehoud Amos, and his wife - they wanted to make sure I got a chance to try the wines from Stone Edge - definitely going to visit them soon (Sonoma/Mount Veeder) - that's Dorothy Moller-Racke, Stone Edge Farms' marketing director, on the right.

Stone Edge's Surround is a blend of four nearby vineyards (all certified organic)

Stone Edge's Cab

Jim Milone from Terra Savia pouring  - almost all of his wines are in my forthcoming app. Look for tasting videos to follow in later posts.

John Fetzer and Patty Rock from Saracina - their new Chardonnay is AWESOME and especially for $16

Saracina's inaugural articles was on display (2004)

Definitely the best dressed award goes to Jason Haas from Tablas Creek, who was doing a fabulous  job showing off their newest vintages (one of which made the Chronicle today) - he was kind enough to do some spur of the moment videos, too - of which later

Calera Wine Tasting in SF Wednesday

Calera, the legendary wine outpost located in Hollister, will be featured in a tasting Wednesday afternoon and early evening at San Francisco Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant.

If you have ever tried to visit the winery, you will know it is quite a drive so being able to taste their wines here in the SF Bay Area is a treat.

They have many wines rated 90+ point by the inestimable Mr. Parker.

Here are some photos from my recent stop at Calera, so if you want to visualize where these wines come from, this is a start.

Here's the Facebook invite from Wine Merchant site (I couldn't find the info online):

The Great Calera Wine Company Presents Old and New Pinot Noir!

Join us Wednesday, May 18th, from 4:30-7:30pm, when we welcome Marta Rich of Calera Wine Company to our Wine Bar. Calera Wine Company is one of the gems of the wine business. They have been around a long time, over thirty years, and hail from the unlikely location of Mount Harlan, at 2200 feet of elevation, on the Central Coast. They are fairly isolated from their fellow wineries of that region. Let's put it this way, it is not on the way to anywhere. You have to want to visit Calera, and many people seek them out due to the stellar quality of their wines and their longstanding reputation as one of the best in the business. Gregarious and eccentric, Josh Jensen, the flamboyantly dressed owner, is a character you will never forget once you meet him. You could easily describe the color pallet for his wardrobe as electric florescent! His shirts are a masterpiece of over the top fashion. Which, oddly, is just the opposite of his Pinot Noirs.

Calera has always been known for their focus and restraint when it comes to Pinot, not overly indulging in ripeness and wood as has become the fashion. The curious point though is they have also been known for their ability to age. It has been our experience that the big, jammy, woody monsters don't do very well after any length of time in the cellar. They may be impressive out of the gate and get big scores, but for the long haul give us the subtlety, the restraint, the understated. Give us Calera!

Come taste two well-cellared Pinot Noirs side by side with two young pups and you be the judge. We think you will appreciate the complex developments of the older wines and understand the structure in the younger ones and how it gives them the ability to last.
We know you will enjoy the rare opportunity to compare and contrast aged and young Pinot Noir from such an esteemed producer. So come join us and help us welcome Marta Rich of Calera Wine Company to the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant.

The featured wines are served as two ounce glasses. If you find a favorite and would like a full glass just ask your bartender. The wines will be available for retail sale while supplies last…

The cost of the flight will be $28 and will include the following wines:

2010 Calera Vin Gris of Pinot Noir, Central Coast
Retail $19.50, 5oz. glass $8.25

2001 Calera Pinot Noir, Mills Vineyard, Mt. Harlan, San Benito County (certified organic)
Retail $60, 5oz. glass $18.25

2002 Calera Pinot Noir, Jensen Vineyard, Mt. Harlan, San Benito County (certified organic)
Retail $84, 5oz. glass $24.25

2007 Calera Pinot Noir, de Villiers Vineyard, Mt. Harlan, San Benito County (certified organic)
Retail $38, 5oz. glass $12.75

2008 Calera Pinot Noir, Ryan Vineyard, Mt. Harlan, San Benito County (certified organic)
Retail $41, 5oz. glass $13.50