Proprietor/Winemaker/Generalissimo

Josh graduated from Yale in 1966 with a degree in history and subsequently earned a masters degree in Anthropology at Oxford. While at Oxford, he rowed on the team that defeated Cambridge in "The Boat Race" held on the Thames River in London. Josh was in the Guinness Book of World Records from 1968 to 1969 as the heaviest man, at 212 pounds, to ever row in the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race.

After Oxford, he lived in France for several years, becoming fluent in French and learning about French wines with lengthy visits to Bordeaux, Alsace and Champagne and of course, Burgundy. During that time, he made the decision to turn his love of Burgundian wines into his life's work. To that end, he worked two harvests in Burgundy: in 1970 at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and in 1971 at Domain Dujac. In 1970, he also worked the two day harvest at Chateau Grillet in the northern Rhone Valley. He returned to California in 1971 to start looking for land and made the first vintage of Calera in 1975 with purchased zinfandel grapes.

Under Josh's direction the Mt. Harlan vineyards have grown to six single vineyard Pinot Noir sites, as well as Viognier, Chardonnay, and Aligoté vines in the Mt. Harlan AVA, all farmed organically and certified; a total of 83.6 planted acres. Calera distributes wines to 46 states and 21 foreign countries.

He has three lovely children, Silvie, Duggan, and Chloe. In 1993, he was elected as a member of the Geneva-based Academie Internationale du Vin. He is one of the few American members of this prestigious group, which includes many of the most respected vignerons in Europe. For leisure, Josh enjoys cycling, skiing and playing tennis.

One cannot separate Josh Jensen's bio from that of the history of Calera Wine Company. For more, please see [History].

Vineyard Manager

Jim was born and raised in San Francisco, CA, attending San Francisco City College before studying Viticulture at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Jim joined the Calera team in 1979. He initially helped to manage the original vineyards planted in 1975 then developed additional acreage throughout the 80's and 90's. During this time he also helped to raise three successful daughters. Today Jim's work is assisted by his sidekick Zelda, his jack russell. With more developments in the works, Jim says he'll stick around until the job's done. Not too bad for a city boy.

Winemaker

Mike Waller grew up in Hollister, Ca. just 10 miles from Calera. Mike discovered his passion of fermentation during his early years of homebrewing. Mike became hooked after many batches of beer, and like all gateway drugs he needed a new fix. This fix transformed itself into wine during a weekend trip to the Napa Valley. He couldn't get enough and soon realized he wanted to make a career out of it. That's when Mike packed his bags and moved to Davis to earn his degree in Viticulture and Enology.

Mike's first harvest out of school was with Saintsbury, where he became captivated with the beauties of Pinot Noir. A short stint at Beringer was followed by a move to the Central Coast in 2004, where he worked as the Assistant Winemaker for Chalone Vineyard. After enduring the corporate world of winemaking for three years, he was ready for a change. With Hollister as his hometown, Mike was already fond of Calera and had made many visits to Josh Jensen over the years. His persistence eventually paid off when Josh hired him on in 2007. Multiple harvests later he is fully enjoying the world of Pinot Noir and the opportunities he has found in his own backyard.

National/Global Sales Manager

Marta Rich is Calera's first non-Josh sales person. She joined Calera in the spring of 2003.

Marta learned about wine and the European lifestyle while she and her family lived abroad during her formative years. When her family returned to the United States, she and her sister always had to try, but not necessarily finish, any wine her parents were sipping, including the wine that her home winemaker father made in the basement. She studied engineering, then math and psychology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Always the trendsetter, Marta worked in the computer industry before it became fashionable, but left it before it became passé. Like so many wine aficionados before and since, she chucked it all to move to California and get into the wine biz.

She credits Robert Mondavi with 18 years of terrific wine industry education that has included stints in marketing, production, and finally, sales, where she found her calling as Robert Mondavi's Northern California Sales Manager.

At Robert Mondavi, she honed her skills selling a large portfolio of wines to a small, yet sophisticated and demanding market. Her love for exploration and interest in continual growth led her to Calera, where she represents a small portfolio of sophisticated wines to a large and demanding market - the whole world. She is inspired to work with Josh Jensen because of his deep dedication to quality and his passion for making wines that truly reflect the sense of a very special place.

Marta lives in the boonies of Glen Ellen, California with her husband (a winemaker, of course), and two cats..

She sees herself as a conduit to share Calera's unique story with distributors and accounts worldwide.