Winemaker Interview Series – Mike Waller of Calera – March 2025

On Wednesday, March 26, 2025, we had the opportunity to interview Mike Waller again. Mike is the winemaker for Calera. We covered one 2023 Chenin Blanc, six 2022 single-vineyard Pinot Noir wines, and one 2021 single-vineyard Pinot Noir during the interview. We last interviewed Mike in March 2024 when we covered the previous vintages of many of these wines. You can read about those wines in this post. In the current interview, Mike shared updates since our last chat. So, check out what we learned!

Before we get to the wine reviews, I thought I would share a few tidbits we learned during the tasting with Mike.

• Mike has been at Calera for 18 years.
• What is new at Calera?
  • The Chenin Blanc comes from the “Gemelli Vineyard”, which conveniently down the street.
    • Chenin Blanc is thin skinned and prone to Botrytis.
    • This site is more consistent than their previous vineyard source.
  • The “Selleck Vineyard” has been ripped out. (It was just not producing enough fruit)
    • You may not see another “Selleck” wine for 10 years.
  • The “Mills Vineyard” also got ripped out.
    • Probably 3-4 years until we see a new “Mills” Pinot.
  • A new Pinot Noir offering from the Santa Cruz Mountains will be released from the 2024 vintage. The grapes were sourced from the “Coast Grade Vineyard.”
• Calera been making Chenin Blanc for about 8 years now. They needed a tier of wines between their Central Coast offering and the Mt. Harlan Estate wines.
  • The first single vineyard Chenin was done in 2014.
• The “Sanford & Benedict Vineyard” is about 3.5 hours away. It is their furthest site away from the winery.
• Typically, the “Ryan Vineyard” is the first vineyard picked.
• The “Reed Vineyard” is now 50 years old. It is north facing and usually the last vineyard picked.
• The “Jensen Vineyard” is planted in 4 blocks. Like an amphitheater. It is also now 50 years old.
• Vintage Updates

• • 2022 was probably the most condensed vintage ever.
    • They started the second week of September and were finished by the end of September.
    • Lowest crop ever. .35 to .4 tons per acre.
    • There was no Mills in 2022.
  • The 2023 vintage came in really late.
    • They didn’t start until the end of September and didn’t finish until the end of October.

Below is a summary of the wine offerings from Calera that we covered with Mike. The links below are to our full reviews. If you are interested in ordering and trying these wines, you will find some of these wines via your favorite fine wine shop or on top quality wines lists. You can also purchase these wines on the Calera website.

1) Calera 2023 Chenin Blanc “Cienega Valley” $42 (KWGTP 93)
2) Calera 2022 Pinot Noir “Chalone Vineyard”(Monterey County) $54 (KWGTP 93)
3) Calera 2022 Pinot Noir “Sanford & Benedict” (Santa Rita Hills) $54 (KWGTP 93)
4) Calera 2022 Pinot Noir “de Villiers Vineyard” (Mt. Harlan) $100 (KWGTP 93.5)
5) Calera 2022 Pinot Noir” Ryan Vineyard” (Mt. Harlan) $100 (KWGTP 95)
6) Calera 2022 Pinot Noir “Reed Vineyard” (Mt. Harlan) $100 (KWGTP 94.5)
7) Calera 2022 Pinot Noir “Jensen” (Mt. Harlan) $100 (KWGTP 96.5)
8) Calera 2021 Pinot Noir “Mills Vineyard” (Mt. Harlan) $95 (KWGTP 95)

You can find reviews of past and future Calera wines that we cover on the Calera KWG winery page on our website. We hope you enjoy these terrific wines as much as we did. Cheers! – Ken