Visited the Porter-Bass and Escarpa vineyards on Sunday with the Ceritas winemaker John Raytek and his wife Phoebe. John is also the assistant winemaker at Copain.
In addition, John helped plant some of the Rhys vineyards too.
Quite a pedigree!!
The gnarly vines from these two vineyards are some of the oldest Chard and Pinot in the Russian River. REALLY tiny berries! And the wines reflect this.
These are the most exciting wines I’ve tasted since Rhys and Copain!
1)2007 Ceritas “Porter-Bass” Chardonnay – 13.4% - $48
90 cases produced. Whole cluster pressed. No lee stiring.
Medium yellow. Fine nose of lemon oil, grilled nuts and a hint of butter.
Fabulous, perfectly balanced, lemony minerals Chard fruit.
The fine structure and acid augers really well for future development.
One of the finest young CA Chards in my experience! [95 pts]
2)2008 Ceritas “Porter-Bass” Chardonnay (Barrel Sample) – 13.2%
62 cases produced. To be bottled in Dec.
Medium yellow. Chalky lemon/lime nose.
Young spicy citric fruit. Undeveloped, but the quality is obvious.
Should be at least as good as the 2007 version.
3)2007 Ceritas “Escarpa” Pinot Noir – 13.7% - $54
130 cases produced. No whole cluster.
Medium-dark red. Absolutely world class floral nose of red fruits, caramel and coffee.
Very balanced, structured cranberry/pomegranate fruit with a VERY long, somewhat tannic finish. This has taken on more structure since last I tasted it. If you love Copain, you’ll love this. Will need time in bottle to level out the tannin and acid levels, but this is another BIG winner from JR! [94 pts]
4)2008 Ceritas “Escarpa” Pinot Noir – 12.9%
130 cases produced. 15% whole cluster.
Medium-dark red. Sweet primary floral nose with that caramel again. Again sweet and sour red fruit profile similar to the 2007. Very young but still tasty and will undoubtably continue to improve.
Ceritas is already making a world class product.
Remember when I urged you to sign up for Rhys.
Ceritas is in the same class!!
Glenn, please post your impressions. I am on the fence for this one as I can not afford another list without cutting a nice winery from my way-to-big list of purchases.
got offered 6 Chard and 6 PN from Ceritas. i know this is heresy but i don’t gush over Wells’ Pinot so we’ll see. i do love Wells’ Syrah and dig the Roussanne too.
Porter-Bass Vineyard is an amazing setting, like a step back in time to old CA, really rustic and glorious. loved Phoebe and John, they could not have been nicer. Chard was really well-structured and immediately satisfying though i think it will do even better with food and age gracefully . PN is an achievement! they should be very proud though i think this wine needs 4-5 years sideways minimum. like you Paul i noticed the tannins now too readily but can’t wait until 2012 to peek @ one of these bottles.
i took my allotted case and got 6 bottles for a buddy in LA.
went to Lynmar last night and Hugh Chappelle knows them both well and had nothing but compliments for their entire approach.
For diversity’s sake, I would allocate some to Ceritas. Very good wines. A standout to me at the Epic Roasthouse pinot and pig luncheon a couple of months ago.
If you have limited funds, here’s what I would do:
Only buy Rhys wines, skip the Alesia.
Spend the rest on Ceritas.
I’ve tasted both a good deal.
Ceritas is right up there with Rhys.
Opened the pinot today. I liked it, especially the nose. I’ll be keeping an eye on these guys. I’m not sure I liked it as much as a Rhys, anthill or rivers Marie, but it is quite good.
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