Ceritas Pinot Noir Trout Gulch 2021
VINTAGE : 2021
COUNTRY : USA
REGION/APPELLATION : California, Santa Cruz Mountains
VARIETALS : Pinot Noir
Ceritas’ first vintage was in 2005. Our small collective team, led by founder, John Raytek, can draw a map of the northern California coastal regions, including West Sonoma Coast, Santa Cruz Mountains, Moon Mountain, and Napa. We know this place inside and out – we ride our bikes through its rolling hills, we surf in its frigid waters, we take our kids mushroom foraging in the fog-drenched conifers – and you can see it in our wines. The wines are of this place and us.
We allow each vineyard to be our teacher, with us as the students. This ongoing process of listening to and learning from each site, every vintage, will enable us to discover and share what each site is capable of expressing. We are continually reminded of the simple principle that most of the vital work occurs in the vineyard, and the role of the winemaker is to allow the vineyard to express itself in a balanced, inimitable wine. We are obsessed with the traditions of winemaking and creating. We are fanatically devoted to excellence. Insatiably curious.
Our wines are of time and place sourced from unique sites not shared by many or anyone. We hope to be creators in a legacy that will serve our generation and generations to come.
Our southernmost vineyard, Trout Gulch, sits a mere 3.5 miles from the ocean. Trout Gulch sits at 750 feet above the hamlet of Aptos in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains. The vineyard was planted in 1980 to Wente Chardonnay and Mt Eden Pinot Noir and is carefully tended to by winemaker/vigneron Richard Alfaro. Uplifted oceanic sandy soils create unique drainage sending the vines deep into marine-derived sub-soils. Tucked into a cool coastal redwood drainage allows temperatures here to stay cooler than expected – summertime highs rarely exceeding 80F.
This is our latest harvest of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The extended season and cold fall weather result in excellent fruit purity and naturally high acidity wines. The wines also capture a marine flavor unlike any of our other wines.