The Calera Wine Company was founded by Josh Jensen, a native Californian educated at Yale and Oxford. Jensen became enamored of the French style after working two harvests in Burgundy, 1970 and 1971, apprenticing himself to several winemakers and developing his already keen interest in wine and winemaking. Returning home, Jensen began a two-year search for limestone soil suitable for growing great Pinot Noir, and in 1974, he purchased a rugged, remote property amid the hills of the Gavilan Mountains, in San Benito County. In 1975, the 14-acre Jensen Vineyard, and the 5-acre Reed Vineyard were planted. 1975 also saw the fledgling winery's first crush, 1000 acres of Zinfandel produced from purchased grapes. Subsequent years brought major major developments and improvements to Calera, including construction of a six-level winery featuring the world's first completely gravity-flow facility in 1977, the inaugural release of a Calera white wine, the Central Coast Chardonnay, in 1982, and the addition of Viognier grapes to the winery's plantings in 1985. Today, Calera specializes in just three varieties: Chardonnay, Viognier, and Pinot Noir. This high degree of specialization allows each wine to be crafted with the utmost care and attention to detail, using time-honored Burgundian methods. This unwavering commitment to excellence in winemaking has placed the bottlings of the Calera Wine Company among the most sought after in the world of wine.

Calera Wine Company / 11300 Cienega Road / Hollister, CA  95023 / 831-637-9170