{"id":2512,"date":"2025-04-30T02:11:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T02:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/?p=2512"},"modified":"2025-04-30T02:13:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T02:13:04","slug":"winemaker-interview-series-mike-waller-of-calera-march-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/?p=2512","title":{"rendered":"Winemaker Interview Series \u2013 Mike Waller of Calera &#8211; March 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Mike-Waller-Calera-Winemaker.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1840\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Mike-Waller-Calera-Winemaker.jpg\" alt=\"Mike Waller - Calera Winemaker\" width=\"180\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">On Wednesday, March 26, 2025, we had the opportunity to interview <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calerawine.com\/our-story\/winemaking\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Mike Waller<\/strong><\/a> again. Mike is the winemaker for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calerawine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Calera<\/strong><\/a>. 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.<\/span> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">You can read about those wines <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/?p=2308\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>in this post<\/strong><\/a>. In the current interview, Mike shared updates since our last chat. So, check out what we learned!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Before we get to the wine reviews, I thought I would share a few tidbits we learned during the tasting with Mike<\/span>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Mike has been at Calera for 18 years.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What is new at Calera?<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Chenin Blanc comes from the &#8220;Gemelli Vineyard&#8221;, which conveniently down the street.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Chenin Blanc is thin skinned and prone to Botrytis.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This site is more consistent than their previous vineyard source.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The &#8220;Selleck Vineyard&#8221; has been ripped out. (It was just not producing enough fruit)<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You may not see another &#8220;Selleck&#8221; wine for 10 years.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The &#8220;Mills Vineyard&#8221; also got ripped out.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Probably 3-4 years until we see a new &#8220;Mills&#8221; Pinot.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A new Pinot Noir offering from the Santa Cruz Mountains will be released from the 2024 vintage. The grapes were sourced from the &#8220;Coast Grade Vineyard.&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">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.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The first single vineyard Chenin was done in 2014.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The &#8220;Sanford &amp; Benedict Vineyard&#8221; is about 3.5 hours away. It is their furthest site away from the winery.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Typically, the &#8220;Ryan Vineyard&#8221; is the first vineyard picked.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The &#8220;Reed Vineyard&#8221; is now 50 years old. It is north facing and usually the last vineyard picked.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The &#8220;Jensen Vineyard&#8221; is planted in 4 blocks. Like an amphitheater. It is also now 50 years old.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #000000;\"><strong>Vintage Updates<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">2022 was probably the most condensed vintage ever.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They started the second week of September and were finished by the end of September.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Lowest crop ever. .35 to .4 tons per acre.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There was no Mills in 2022.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The 2023 vintage came in really late.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They didn&#8217;t start until the end of September and didn&#8217;t finish until the end of October.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calerawine.com\/Wines\/Current-Releases\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>Calera website<\/u><\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Calera-Logo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2078\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Calera-Logo.jpg\" alt=\"Calera Logo\" width=\"250\" height=\"172\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">1) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Calera-2023-Chenin-Blanc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Calera 2023 Chenin Blanc &#8220;Cienega Valley&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> $42 (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 93<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">2) <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Calera-2022-Chalone-Vineyard-Pinot-Noir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Calera 2022 Pinot Noir &#8220;Chalone Vineyard&#8221;<\/a><\/strong>(Monterey County) $54 (<strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">KWGTP 93<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">3) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Calera-2022-Sanford-and-Benedict-Pinot-Noir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Calera 2022 Pinot Noir &#8220;Sanford &amp; Benedict&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Santa Rita Hills) $54 (<strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">KWGTP 93<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">4) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Calera-2022-de-Villiers-Vineyard-Pinot-Noir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Calera 2022 Pinot Noir &#8220;de Villiers Vineyard&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Mt. Harlan) $100 (<strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">KWGTP 93.5<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">5) <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Calera-2022-Ryan-Vineyard-Pinot-Noir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Calera 2022 Pinot Noir&#8221; Ryan Vineyard&#8221;<\/a><\/strong> (Mt. Harlan) $100 (<strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">KWGTP 95<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">6) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Calera-2022-Reed-Vineyard-Pinot-Noir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Calera 2022 Pinot Noir &#8220;Reed Vineyard&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Mt. Harlan) $100 (<strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">KWGTP 94.5<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">7) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Calera-2022-Jensen-Pinot-Noir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Calera 2022 Pinot Noir &#8220;Jensen&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Mt. Harlan) $100 (<strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">KWGTP 96.5<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">8) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Calera-2021-Mills-Vineyard-Pinot-Noir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Calera 2021 Pinot Noir &#8220;Mills Vineyard&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Mt. Harlan) $95 (<strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">KWGTP 95<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You can find reviews of past and future Calera wines that we cover on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine.php?winery=970\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Calera KWG winery page<\/strong><\/a> on our website. We hope you enjoy these terrific wines as much as we did. Cheers! \u2013 Ken<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1476,92,1892,34,88,1928,11,1477,223,1927,2368,2633,2492,126,8,6,240,1292,1288],"tags":[1479,1484,2370,1047,1921,2842,2843,2372,2840,1489,2374,2844,1478,2376,2371,2839,1924,492,2373,2375,2838,2611,2378,2841],"class_list":["post-2512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-calera","category-california","category-central-coast","category-chenin-blanc","category-high-end-wines","category-jensen","category-kens-wine-guide-tasting-panel","category-mike-waller","category-monterey","category-mt-harlan","category-sanford-benedict","category-santa-cruz-mountains","category-santa-rita-hills","category-wine-ratings","category-wine-recommendations","category-wine-reviews","category-wine-tasting","category-winemaker","category-zoom-wine-tasting","tag-calera","tag-central-coast","tag-chalone-vineyard","tag-chenin-blanc","tag-cienega-valley","tag-coast-grade-vineyard","tag-condensed-vintage","tag-de-villiers-vineyard","tag-gemelli-vineyard","tag-jensen","tag-jensen-vineyard","tag-lowest-crop-ever","tag-mike-waller","tag-mills-vineyard","tag-monterey-county","tag-mount-harlan","tag-mt-harlan","tag-pinot-noir","tag-reed-vineyard","tag-ryan-vineyard","tag-sanford-and-benedict","tag-santa-cruz-mountains","tag-santa-rita-hills","tag-selleck-vineyard"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2512"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2514,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions\/2514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}