Owned this wine upon release. A cool cherry and violet nose with just a hint of wild game. Intense fruit flavors still dominate the palate, but it tastes like they are wrapped in a bacon-nori wrapper. The finish has telltale limestone minerality. Incredibly good and I would bet it has another 10+ years ahead of it.
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From 375. In a great place. Nose of red fruit and spice. Expansive red fruit flavors on the palate. Great acidity. Long, satisfying finish. Likely at peak, or even slightly past. But should continue to drink well for quite some time.
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Popped and poured from 375. Rust-red color. Enticing nose of red fruit, spice and earth. Big burst of flavor expands out nicely on the palate. Elegant texture. Acidity builds nicely from attack through finish. Still fairly tannic on the finish, but that doesn't detract from the long, satisfying finish. This is probably approaching peak at this point (from 375 at least).
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Medium red. A great nose of cherries and spice mixed with desert dustiness. This has really come together over the last 4 years. It does need open time, but then it shows off. Nice balance. The acid is there, but so well integrated. It might have deserved a higher score, but gone too quickly. This, with roast duck, would be closing in on perfection. Fall is here, so time to do it. From 375 ml.
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Excellant young pinot. Nose of wet black dirt, licorace, black cherry, and a bit of good mushroom. Good complexity in the mouth that keeps you coming back. This needs a few years to come together, but drinks well with an hour of open time. Still noticable, but acceptable tannins on the finish. From 375 ml
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Impromptu Calera Night: From 375. Popped and poured. Dark ruby red color. The nose smells very primary and effusive, featuring red fruit and earth. In the mouth this is a beautiful mid-weight wine with expansive flavors of red fruit and mineral. Perfect balance and sneaky complexity for such a young wine. Still fairly tannic and drying but the finish is excellent. Tasted even better on day two. This is too young for me to appreciate fully, but I am thrilled to have many more bottles to test over the next 10+ years.
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Pinot Noir Smackdown (Northbrook, IL): Soft nose, kinda closed but some whiffs of floral & earth tones. Mouthfeel of soft red cherries & strawberries. Tart finish with citrus-like acidity is pretty and lengthy. My #7, group's #7
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This thing has a great future, despite it's somewhat surprisingly aged appearance (ruby, but some bricking). A bit reticent right now, but notes of forest floor and red fruit can be coaxed out. Excellent mouthfeel, medium bodied, good acidity, no heat at all. Tastes really primary, but has everything in the right spots and an already great flavor profile.
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A really successful '04 from Calera, which is reassuring after the spirity Mills. Here the alcohol is 14.5% but you don't taste it and in fact nothing here really gives this away as a heat-wave vintage. The color is a surprisingly advanced bricked crimson and the fruit profile is considerably more streamlined than you would expect from the vintage or, for that matter, from anything of this age. It still feels rich, but not fat. The only thing that detracts is a whiff of V.A. that emerges after awhile.
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I should be giving this a few days before evaluating as it arrived today from across the country. Right out of the bottle: Big aromas of brush, red berries and Rhubarb. Excellent acidity.Disjointed a bit and tastes a little stemmy with some bitteness and noticible tannins, This is to be expected given that they use whole clusters and is worth the price for added complexity down the road. The Mills is much more fruit foward and enjoyable right now. Nice silky mouthfeel. Some spice on the finish. I'd wait another 2+years on this. All the elements are there but needs time to come together. 93+Pts on potential
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Classic burgundian pinot nose. Big fruit and good balance. Too young - should decant for an hour or two. Tasted against Mills which was interesting. Back label notes much older vines for Selleck and 15% new oak versus 30% on Mills. Yields virtually the same but much deeper character and power in Selleck. Pretty fun exercise.
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Decanted for about an hour. Bright nose of raspberry, strawberry, vanilla, little spice, and a very slight vegetal whiff...palate was well balanced and finish was great. We had orange spiced chocolate with this and WOW what a combo! Great wine, would buy more if I could find more.
We had a 2001 Calera Selleck Vineyard and these were very close to one another in overall score...don't hesitate!
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Oh wow, I liked this a lot. "Audouzed" for 6 hours. The nose was similar to the 2000 Chevillon Vaucrains 1er Burgundy I had alongside, but the palate was thicker and richer with a lot of structure and aromatical depth... and what a finish! Lovely. This really combines all the great things of a Burgundy with the hedonistic aspect of an Californian Pinot Noir. Gorgeous stuff even at this price point. One of the best red wines I drank in 2007.
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Winestreet Celebrates 2005 Burgundy (Potel, Jadot, Bouchard, Girarding, others): Popped and poured from half bottle. The first of twelve half bottles purchased recently. I didn't take notes, but this did not disappoint. The nose delivered massive aromas of red and black fruits, mineral, and other interesting aromas. On the palate this delivered great flavor intensity from the attack through the long satisfying finish. I thought this was drinking well now, but should improve considerably with additional bottle age.
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8/5/2020 - lars1014 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Owned this wine upon release. A cool cherry and violet nose with just a hint of wild game. Intense fruit flavors still dominate the palate, but it tastes like they are wrapped in a bacon-nori wrapper. The finish has telltale limestone minerality. Incredibly good and I would bet it has another 10+ years ahead of it.
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10/29/2017 - Dave Dalluge wrote: 92 Points
From 375. In a great place. Nose of red fruit and spice. Expansive red fruit flavors on the palate. Great acidity. Long, satisfying finish. Likely at peak, or even slightly past. But should continue to drink well for quite some time.
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11/29/2016 - viking92067 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Acquired new from winery and stored in cellar since. From 750ml. This Pinot was sublime and signing to the heavens. Spectacular Pinot.
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3/12/2015 - RR47 Likes this wine: 90 Points
From 375ml. This is similar to previous tastings, but not as expressive. Probably past peak.
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7/7/2014 - Dave Dalluge wrote: 93 Points
Popped and poured from 375. Rust-red color. Enticing nose of red fruit, spice and earth. Big burst of flavor expands out nicely on the palate. Elegant texture. Acidity builds nicely from attack through finish. Still fairly tannic on the finish, but that doesn't detract from the long, satisfying finish. This is probably approaching peak at this point (from 375 at least).
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6/16/2013 - zazoo wrote: 90 Points
Colors of rust starting to form . on its way down. I hope all my bottles arent like this. I might have started too late on this case.
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9/25/2012 - RR47 wrote: 93 Points
Medium red. A great nose of cherries and spice mixed with desert dustiness. This has really come together over the last 4 years. It does need open time, but then it shows off. Nice balance. The acid is there, but so well integrated. It might have deserved a higher score, but gone too quickly. This, with roast duck, would be closing in on perfection. Fall is here, so time to do it. From 375 ml.
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7/26/2012 - Dave Dalluge wrote: 93 Points
From 375. Not showing much on night one. On night two this was rocking. Great depth of flavor, silky texture, great finish. Quite impressive.
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8/11/2011 - RR47 wrote: 92 Points
Excellant young pinot. Nose of wet black dirt, licorace, black cherry, and a bit of good mushroom. Good complexity in the mouth that keeps you coming back. This needs a few years to come together, but drinks well with an hour of open time. Still noticable, but acceptable tannins on the finish. From 375 ml
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6/2/2011 - Dave Dalluge wrote: 93 Points
From 375. Popped and poured. No notes taken but this was consistent with previous bottles. Still in need of additional time in the cellar.
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6/6/2010 - Dave Dalluge wrote: 93 Points
Impromptu Calera Night: From 375. Popped and poured. Dark ruby red color. The nose smells very primary and effusive, featuring red fruit and earth. In the mouth this is a beautiful mid-weight wine with expansive flavors of red fruit and mineral. Perfect balance and sneaky complexity for such a young wine. Still fairly tannic and drying but the finish is excellent. Tasted even better on day two. This is too young for me to appreciate fully, but I am thrilled to have many more bottles to test over the next 10+ years.
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5/28/2010 - KeithAkers wrote: 89 Points
Pinot Smackdown 2010 (Ken's, northbrook IL): nose: more stalky and red fruit based nose of red currants, red fruits, spice tones and bits of chalk
taste: plush medium with good medium acidity and smooth tones of red currants, stalk tones, red fruits and bits of spice
overall: my no8, group no7. the chalk and stalk tones were a bit odd. Good bright red fruits though and well balanced especially given the vintage
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5/28/2010 - cobbpa Likes this wine: 91 Points
Pinot Noir Smackdown (Northbrook, IL): Soft nose, kinda closed but some whiffs of floral & earth tones. Mouthfeel of soft red cherries & strawberries. Tart finish with citrus-like acidity is pretty and lengthy.
My #7, group's #7
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6/6/2009 - cadamson wrote: 93 Points
This thing has a great future, despite it's somewhat surprisingly aged appearance (ruby, but some bricking). A bit reticent right now, but notes of forest floor and red fruit can be coaxed out. Excellent mouthfeel, medium bodied, good acidity, no heat at all. Tastes really primary, but has everything in the right spots and an already great flavor profile.
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3/1/2009 - Keith Levenberg wrote: 91 Points
A really successful '04 from Calera, which is reassuring after the spirity Mills. Here the alcohol is 14.5% but you don't taste it and in fact nothing here really gives this away as a heat-wave vintage. The color is a surprisingly advanced bricked crimson and the fruit profile is considerably more streamlined than you would expect from the vintage or, for that matter, from anything of this age. It still feels rich, but not fat. The only thing that detracts is a whiff of V.A. that emerges after awhile.
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12/27/2008 - beachnic wrote: 92 Points
Very good but didn't rock my boat like I would have expected. Seems to have lost a little intensity since last time.
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5/15/2008 - beachnic wrote: 93 Points
I should be giving this a few days before evaluating as it arrived today from across the country. Right out of the bottle: Big aromas of brush, red berries and Rhubarb. Excellent acidity.Disjointed a bit and tastes a little stemmy with some bitteness and noticible tannins, This is to be expected given that they use whole clusters and is worth the price for added complexity down the road. The Mills is much more fruit foward and enjoyable right now. Nice silky mouthfeel. Some spice on the finish. I'd wait another 2+years on this. All the elements are there but needs time to come together. 93+Pts on potential
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5/3/2008 - Slics wrote:
Classic burgundian pinot nose. Big fruit and good balance. Too young - should decant for an hour or two. Tasted against Mills which was interesting. Back label notes much older vines for Selleck and 15% new oak versus 30% on Mills. Yields virtually the same but much deeper character and power in Selleck. Pretty fun exercise.
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3/8/2008 - redderthanred wrote: 94 Points
Decanted for about an hour. Bright nose of raspberry, strawberry, vanilla, little spice, and a very slight vegetal whiff...palate was well balanced and finish was great. We had orange spiced chocolate with this and WOW what a combo! Great wine, would buy more if I could find more.
We had a 2001 Calera Selleck Vineyard and these were very close to one another in overall score...don't hesitate!
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12/31/2007 - Weinlakai wrote: 95 Points
Oh wow, I liked this a lot. "Audouzed" for 6 hours. The nose was similar to the 2000 Chevillon Vaucrains 1er Burgundy I had alongside, but the palate was thicker and richer with a lot of structure and aromatical depth... and what a finish! Lovely. This really combines all the great things of a Burgundy with the hedonistic aspect of an Californian Pinot Noir. Gorgeous stuff even at this price point. One of the best red wines I drank in 2007.
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12/15/2007 - BradE wrote:
A late night extra, from half bottle. Still too young, but I liked it better than others.
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11/29/2007 - Siggy wrote:
Winestreet Does 2005 Burgundy (Kozlak's, North Oaks, MN): From half bottle. No formal notes taken. Very ripe and young.
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11/29/2007 - Dave Dalluge wrote:
Winestreet Celebrates 2005 Burgundy (Potel, Jadot, Bouchard, Girarding, others): Popped and poured from half bottle. The first of twelve half bottles purchased recently. I didn't take notes, but this did not disappoint. The nose delivered massive aromas of red and black fruits, mineral, and other interesting aromas. On the palate this delivered great flavor intensity from the attack through the long satisfying finish. I thought this was drinking well now, but should improve considerably with additional bottle age.
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