2012 Pinot Noir Costalina

There is a lot to look forward to in this set of new and upcoming releases from Ceritas. John Raytek and Phoebe Bass draw from some of the top sites in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Anderson Valley and the Sonoma Coast to craft brilliant Chardonnays and Pinots built on energy. Stylistically, the Ceritas wines are incredibly transparent, which makes them great choices for readers who want to explore and understand the attributes of some of these vineyard sites. This year, I was especially drawn to the Pinot Noirs, which are generally more complete wines. Raytek and Bass like to pick on the earlier side, which is especially evident in the Chardonnays, where that style appears at times forced upon the vineyards, while in Pinot Noir the wines often come across as more natural. That is a very small critique at this level, though, as the wines are delicious across the board.

The portfolio of wines here continues to expand--up to ten different bottlings now--but John Raytek told me that "there's clearly a limit, which we may be hitting soon." That would be the point at which he would feel a lessening of control, a situation that he really doesn't like "especially when it comes to working in the vineyards." Like virtually all of his colleagues whom I met with this spring, Raytek pointed out that the danger of 2012's ideal season was the possibility of dilution due to the large crop, adding that thinning of fruit was essential throughout the growing season. There was a lot of fruit available on the market following the harvest, "but imagine what kind of yields much of it came from," he added. Fans of Raytek's concentrated yet lithe style of wines will find much to like from this year's set of releases, which showcase vibrancy and power as well as any other producer in the Golden State today.

John Raytek is one of California's most promising young winemakers. Ceritas fans will be delighted to see five new Pinots in this range, all from sites with significant character and personality; Hellenthal, Porter-Bass, Elliott, Hacienda Sequoia and Pinnacle, plus new Chardonnays from Peter Martin Ray and Pinnacle. Raytek is among the producers who prefers to pick on the earlier side of things. His wines are defined by striking energy, tension and minerality. As one might reasonably expect, the 2012s are a little more generous and resonant than the steely 2011s. They were also picked a bit riper, reflecting the respective personalities of both years. The Chardonnays see a typical Burgundy-influenced aging regime that calls for 12 months in barrel (all neutral) followed by 6-7 months in tank, which is where the 2012s were aging when I tasted them. Barrel regimes for Pinots vary from wine to wine, with new oak at about 25%. As a general rule, rackings during aging are kept to the bare minimum. Unfortunately I was not able to taste the 2012 Porter-Bass and Heintz Chardonnays, as the malos were slow and not done at the time of my tastings. Readers who have not checked out the Ceritas wines yet owe it to themselves to do so. There is so much to like here.