REGION
Sonoma Coast, California
VARIETAL
Chardonnay
TASTING NOTES
Ceritas Wines began its winemaking journey in 2005, founded by the visionary John Raytek and a dedicated team with an intimate knowledge of the northern California coastal regions. This collective of passionate individuals, deeply connected to areas like West Sonoma Coast, Santa Cruz Mountains, Moon Mountain, and Napa, considers their wines a true reflection of both the land and themselves.
At Ceritas, the vineyards are revered as teachers, with the winemakers as devoted students. The philosophy revolves around listening, learning, and adapting to each site and vintage, allowing the vineyard’s authentic expression to shine. While they maintain a deep respect for tradition, Ceritas’ winemaking is flexible, inspired by the land and the season, rather than the effects of human intervention.
Tucked away just east of the town of Occidental, Charles Heintz Vineyard is one of the region’s oldest historic vineyard sites. This site begged for wine grapes, specifically Chardonnay, with its classic Goldridge sandy loam soils and the location just above the fog line, offering abundant sunshine with cool ocean breezes. These almost four-decade-old vines are among the oldest Chardonnay vineyards on the Sonoma Coast.
Defying conventional wisdom of the 1980s, Heintz Vineyard has since proven to be superb Chardonnay terroir, its inherent richness balanced by bright acidity and salty minerality. While the fruit ripens slowly due to vine age, patience has its rewards: the quality outstanding and the contrast of this Chardonnay to our other Chardonnays shows what this varietal is capable of. We happily share the organically farmed section with a fellow winery, Littorai.
-Ceritas
(Organic)