2017 Aligoté

This is a solid set of wines from Calera. The Aligoté, Viognier and Mt. Harlan Chardonnay are among the highlights in the whites. In recent years, Calera has expanded the Pinot range to include select, single-vineyard bottlings from sites outside the estate's Mt. Harlan property. This year, the Muns Vineyard Pinot, from a vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, is especially fine. I found some of the other 2016 Pinots to be a bit awkward. Winemaker Mike Waller explained that, although 2016 was the first year after the drought, it is possible the vines were carrying some accumulated stress from several years with basically no water. The ability of Pinot Noir to transmit so much about site and vintage is one of the things that makes wine so fascinating, and the 2016 Pinots definitely tell the story of the year.

There are a lot of highlights in this range from Calera. The Vin Gris, Aligoté and both Chardonnays are terrific. The 2015 estate Pinots - the core of the lineup - clearly reflect the stress of a year in which yields are just 0.5 tons per acre. To be sure, Calera's Mt. Harlan estate is a rugged site on its own, and yields will never be especially generous, but production is 2015 is dramatically low, even by the standards of this vineyard. Tiny yields along with a preference to use a high amount of whole clusters may explain why a number of the 2015 Pinots are reticent and hard to read today. Historically, the Calera Pinots blossom with age. I suspect that will be the case here as well. Readers will note the addition of two new non-estate Pinots, both from sites Calera has worked within the past for their Central Coast Pinot label. As a reminder, founder Josh Jensen sold Calera last year to Duckhorn. It will be a few years before the wines made under the new ownership show whether or not there have been any meaningful changes in quality.