TN: 2007 Ceritas Pinot Noir Escarpa Vineyard

WINE TALK
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  • 2007 Ceritas Pinot Noir Escarpa Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (4/9/2011)
    Popped and poured. Deep ruby hue. Soaring nose of bing cherry and plum with violets and tea rose scents. Palate revealed layers of clean, pure black plum and raspberry fruit elegantly and precisely rendered. Plenty of refreshing acidity and noble structure, with some enticing mineral notes. Finish marked by red fruits and a touch of astringency attributable to youth. Strikingly pure wine showing very well in its primary state. (92 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

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Any thoughts regarding how many years to let this age?

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Greg,

Boy, hard to know as this is my first taste of this wine. I’d estimate that the optimum drinking window could span 2013-2020.

Cheers,
Doug

4

Thanks, Doug. I have, likewise, only had this once and that was shortly after release. Hopefully, some other board members will chime-in here.

5

Here were my notes from November 2009:

The first thing I noticed about this Pinot was the extremely dark color, closer to a Merlot. Upon opening, scents of toasted almond and caramel were the most dominant (quality oak was evident here), but quickly blew off to a more natural Pinot nose – soft cherry, Indian spices, and slightly floral.
This was a beast of a wine but extremely balanced, especially as it opened. I was very impressed with the weight of the wine mid-palate. The solid acid structure led to sort of a strawberry Now & Later flavor, and a slightly spicy finish (white pepper). Tannins were above average for a CA Pinot.
Overall, I absolutely loved this wine. The best Pinot I have had in 2009. Very big and very balanced with luscious flavors. Highly recommended.

Decanted, but poured right away, drank over 3 hours.

I tried it again about a year ago, and noted that it was very tight for a couple of hours, but then it opened beautifully. To me, this is a short term indicator that it needs time, long term is tougher for me to predict.

I have complete confidence that this wine will be shining in the 2013-2016 range.
I have some confidence that this wine will be shining in the 2017-2020 range.
There is plenty of fruit and acidity to possibly go longer, but I think it gets risky past 2020.

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Greg, Eric,

Thanks for your input. Eric, your TN caught it all. I had forgotten how much of a spice component there was to the finish, which your note brought out. The balance of the wine is indeed impeccable, which is one of the reasons I believe it will age well.

Cheers,
Doug

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I agree with Eric.
There’s little track record for Ceritas, but the vines are pretty old and I fully expect these to age quite nicely. [cheers.gif]

TTT

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Much appreciated. Thanks for the insights.

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Nice savory note in the nose, touch mandarin orange remnants and maybe a skoosh of still sea/brackish water? Much sweeter in taste than bouquet but don’t think R-M, this bottle shows lots of balance and is a very fine accompaniment to home-made pizza. There are tannins! Gun to my head I’d likely pick the 07 Summa, but it would be a hard choice as this showed well tonight.

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Pleased to see these notes as I just bought a few bottles of this on the secondary market (I’m an addition to their list with the 09 vintage).

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Nice notes. Since this thread was started almost 2 years ago, it’s probably time for me to open another bottle!

Cheers,
Doug

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Took this to a restaurant this past weekend and had it with a ridiculously delicious duck dish. Perfect match. Did not decant and it was drinking beautifully with the exquisite balance that I have come to expect from Ceritas. This is not going to decline anytime soon, but have no clue if this will continue to improve. What I do know is it is damn fine right now. One of only a handful of list I still buy from religiously.

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Ceritas’ Pinots and Chards take a backseat to NOBODY! [worship.gif] [worship.gif]

TTT

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Bottle we opened last night seemed different to us from the one we opened in the summertime, this was accompanied by shrimp and rice/saffron. Bottle more complete and finished in totality, just in a great place now. Black cherries and some yeast now without any bitter/astringent notes. This is as good as Sonoma PN gets and while it will clearly live quite awhile you really no longer have to wait.