Calera Chardonnay Central Coast 2024 750ml

Peter - Wine Specialist, South Glendale

Limestone, anyone?

All of the fuss about Burgundian wines can be boiled down to one word: limestone. There is a Calera, Spanish for “limestone kiln’” which stands prominently in the Mt. Harlan AVA, representing the dreams of a California winemaker who wished to emulate the breathtaking monopoles of DRC.

Calera is young, but will grow into wines of this depth, breadth, and stature. In the meantime, we are currently in a period in which the Duckhorn Portfolio leaders foresaw the future of these wines.

Ok… Central Coast Chardonnay may not register with you as terroir for white wine greatness. However, watch, observes wait and see…  There will be future days in which oenophiles may say, “Oh yeah! I bought Calera. And, I was also there when Chateau Montelena Chardonnay was $5.00 a bottle.

In 1974, Mike Grgich had the foresight to blend Napa Valley and Sonoma County white grapes, especially from a then unknown plot called Bacigalupi Vineyard.

After Grgich’s Chardonnay scored the highest total points of any wine in the Paris blind tasting of 1976, shocking the French wine establishment and permanently putting California wine on the world map, what can we say?

The winemaker for Calera Wine is Mike Waller, who continues the legacy of the winery's founder and pioneer, Josh Jensen. These are merely names to you at the moment…

Do you want to take a risk and try to taste viticultural history before it is made?

Jump in, then…