Ceritas made their first wine in 2005 and immediately set their sail as one of the finest proponents of cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in America. They have achieved this and will say that I have not tasted any more impressive.

To understand why their wines are so good, you can look back on their past experience. John worked for exemplary estates like Flowers, Rhys and Copain as they were questing for the best sites in California to grow or source special grapes.They have twelve sites that they source from today in  Sonoma and Santa Cruz, not necessarily owned by, but all under Ceritas control. All farmed organically or bio-dynamically. They have noted that disease pressure is higher towards the coast and there is almost none as you go inland towards Dry Creek Valley, most of their vineyards are thus 3-6 miles inland from the coast. The further away from the coast they look for vineyards facing away from the sun and the opposite closer to the coast.

Vine age is important, John looks for vines over 30 years old with deep root systems that permit dry farming. He also only looks for “pre-Dijon” suitcase clones from Burgundy and native American heirloom clones. For example he produces Chardonnay from the Wente clone only and there are different selection of the Wente clone. For Pinot Noir he selects only the Calera, Swan, Mt Eden and Pommard clones as they are slower to ripen, retain more acidity and have a diversity of ripening pattern.

For elevage he works with only two coopers, tight grain wood and with the lowest possible toast and absolutely no char. Chardonnay sees no new wood at all and Pinot Noir sees 25% new wood as an average across all wines.

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