John and Phoebe at Ceritas are releasing in early February. Guessing to expect emails reasonably soon. This is the offer (price not known by me):
2014 Trout Gulch Vineyard Chardonnay / Santa Cruz Mountains
2014 Peter Martin Ray Vineyard Chardonnay / Santa Cruz Mountains
2014 Hacienda Secoya Vineyard Pinot Noir / Anderson Valley
Anyone try any of these 2014’s yet? I see a pretty upbeat note in CT for the 2014 Arnot-Roberts Trout Gulch mentions a chablis lovers wine (which K&L has at $50 per). That’s my kind of wine. I will reach out to Phoebe to see what thoughts they have on the offer and bring them back here. I don’t see notes on their site yet.
I have enough experience with past Peter Martin Ray and Hacienda to know they could be good. Of course, I welcome any thoughts you have on these, too.
I miss the crush pad Ceritas open houses with pre-release tasting from unlabeled bottles and the wine thief dipping in the barrel. Maybe with the new winery site they will preview again or more. They do have an upcoming event that was covered in a previous WB thread, but we can’t attend. Even the winery tastings of the past I ended up getting every chardonnay anyway, but tasting gives me an idea of quantity. Nice that these Ceritas chards age well, so far, as my Chablis are consumed ahead of the premox wave - so 2009 is my “oldest” Chablis, while I expect to hold some Ceritas as long as the CT notes show it holding out well.
Steve, good question. Just have to go on faith, hopefully there will be some notes and details in the release offer. Have they moved out of Punchdown? Hadn’t heard anything about that.
The AR Trout Gulch was $45 on release. That said I am curious to see what they do with their pricing. Yes they make good juice, but the pricing was starting to get ahead of itself IMHO.
'The trout Gulch vineyard sits at 800’ above the tiny town of Aptos, about 4 miles from the ocean in Santa Cruz county. The site was planted in 1980 to the old Wente clone of Chardonnay which is considered by many to be the heritage selection of Chardonnay in California.The soils in this cool climate site are sandy loam and the vines are carefully tended by Richard Alfaro. Harvest often stretches until mid October and the resulting wines are high in natural acidity with a notable salinity on the palate."
Alan, I don’t know the details or anything for that matter. Maybe someone else does. In a recent email with Phoebe she said “We will have an open house at our new winery I think in June so that might be an opportunity to come up.”
TROUT GULCH VINEYARD CHARDONNAY / SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS
Knockout nose combines white grapefruit, quinine and sea spray– powerful and perfumed. A wine of coiled energy and finesse, conveying outstanding cut and chiseled precision. Flavors of citrus zest, jasmine and dusty stone. Sharply delineated and expressive. Finishes with extraordinary energy and rising length. Absolutely delicious.
Our first release from Trout Gulch could not be more exciting. From 40+ year old organically farmed vines. Trout Gulch vineyard is nestled in the foothills of Aptos in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains. A mere 4 miles from the ocean keeps the site colder than any of our other Chardonnay sites. Clay rich sand over bedrock allows vines to build flavor and sugar over a longer period of time.
PETER MARTIN RAY VINEYARD CHARDONNAY / SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS
Complex aromas of crushed stone, lemon, bergamot and hawthorn blossom. Impressively concentrated with outstanding depth to the flavors of ripe yellow fruits, orange zest and almond skin. Perfectly integrated acidity gives outstanding balance. Finishes salty and very long with terrific energy and tactile mineral quality reflective of the soils in which it is grown.
Peter Martin Ray Vineyard is part of the original Martin Ray estate founded in 1942. Since that time, the vines have been replanted. Peter Martin Ray (Martin’s son) replanted Vineyard in the early 1980’s. The vine material came from the original Mt Eden Chardonnay cuttings. The site is planted on AXR rootstock and produces clusters of tiny concentrated berries. The soils are fractured shale with a good amount of clay.
HACIENDA SECOYA VINEYARD PINOT NOIR / ANDERSON VALLEY
Transparent and prism like Pinot Noir. Vibrant nose combines dark cherry, wild spices, peony blossom and fresh herbs. A savory powerful iron rich palate elevated by flavors of mocha, black raspberry and graphite. Silky tannins wrap around a beautifully balance and energetic finish. Vinified with 40% whole clusters.
The Hacienda Secoya Vineyard is located in the “deep end” of Anderson Valley. The Deep End of Anderson Valley is renowned as an optimal growing area for cool-climate Pinot Noir, due to cool ocean air penetrating through the valley. Named for the surrounding redwood forest, this southwest-facing vineyard sits on an elevated bench just above the valley floor, a stone’s throw from the town of Navarro. The vines were planted in 1995 to the Pommard clone in soils that are volcanic in origin and sandstone-based, with a red hue revealing the greater than average iron content. Between the influence of coastal fog and the high proportion of clay in the soil, the vines stay hydrated throughout the growing season.
CHARDONNAY
The Chardonnay’s are very expressive. Ph levels are low and acidities are high. These wines speak quietly, revealing the subtleties of each site. They offer up great transparency, cut, and fruit purity and aromatic complexity. Finishes are very long. This should be another vintage that will age very well.
PINOT NOIR
The Pinot Noir’s are concentrated due to smaller than average berries. In the cellar, the wines showed great suppleness much like the wines from 2013. By the end of the first year, the wines had expressive aromatics of exotic spices and earth. Acidities across the board were high at harvest. The wines are bright red fruited, deeply concentrated and have beautiful balance. The wines are enjoyable right away but should reward those who put them away.
2014 VINTAGE OVERVIEW
After three years of drought and 2013 turning out to be the driest year in recorded California history, our concerns were starting to grow given the lack of soil hydration along the North Coast. Since all of our vineyards are dry farmed, we count on winter rains to replenish water to parched soils from the previous summer. December was dry with no rainfall. January was not much better. Finally in February, the winter storms did materialize and produced similar quantities at each site as in 2013. Cold wet conditions persisted through much of February but we still got an early start and the vines sprung into action around the first week of March in most of our vineyards. Soils seemed fully saturated at the time but after three years of less than average rainfall new challenges lay ahead.
Canopies grew well at first but the three years of drought was finally showing itself in vegetative growth. Shoots struggled to make it to the top wire. Earlier than normal shoot thinning passes allowed us to select the strongest shoots. Consistent warm weather during flowering produced a solid set. While the clusters were smaller in 2014 than 2013, they were more evenly set which led to less green drops later in the year. Vineyards were bathed in sunshine through much of the summer.
We began picking the last two weeks of August. By the end of August, Porter-Bass Pinot Noir and young vine Chardonnay, Peter Martin Ray, Hellenthal, Hacienda were all in. The remaining picks spread out evenly over the final two weeks of harvest. The Chardonnay was all healthy – no signs of botrytis or oidium – flavors were bright with low pH’s and high natural acidities. The Pinot Noir’s were concentrated, dark and full of flavor. Retained natural acidity helped to balance as they aged. Overall crop loads in 2014 were slightly down as compared to 2013. Harvest started on August 19 and ended September 15.
We sincerely hope that you enjoy these wines. Thank you for your continued support. Be well.
Allocation email arrived minutes ago.
Unfortunately ( at least in my instance), one must purchase a minimum of 3 bottles of any of the offered wines. I was hoping to sample both Chards as there is modest demand in my family for them at this time. Any suggestions or comments on the Trout or Martin?
Carlton, drop them an email. My first purchase was one bottle of each (a mixed three pack) a couple years ago because I wanted to try them before committing to 3-Packs.
Before just dismissing the offer, I suggest you email Phoebe and tell her what you would like to order. She is EXTREMELY accommodating and I imagine she will be happy to work with you to “pick and choose” what you want!
The Trout Gulch sounds great! Can’t wait to try it. And, Peter Martin Ray is my favorite Chardonnay by Ceritas. These are my favorite wines for seafood!
I personally like quantities in 3’s, but I am sure they will accommodate.