2020 Ceritas Pinot Noir Hellenthal Vineyard
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Tasting notes
The 2020 Pinot Noir Hellenthal Old Shop Block is bright and nicely focused. Crushed red berry fruit, spice, cedar, tobacco and dried flowers all open in the glass. The 2020 is a very pretty and effusive wine. It perhaps lacks the mid-palate depth of the very best years, but it was made from only two of the three parcels that typically go into the blend. The third parcel, the last to ripen, is used to add weight to the wine, but that fruit was compromised by fires in 2020.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
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Grown on pink sandstone soils, the 2020 Pinot Noir Helenthal Old Shop Block has more raspberry fruit, with fresh crushed flowers and a touch of cinnamon stick. The palate is fully dry and fresh with strawberry fruit, forest herbs, and super-fine tannins. Drink over the next 15 or more years. Helmed by founder John Raytek, Ceritas was established with their first vintage in 2005. Today there are 14 wines produced – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon – featuring historical sites that are dry farmed and poised to channel the style the team wants to create. Each of the sites are farmed organically, or biodynamically. Originally focusing solely on what is now the West Sonoma Coast, in 2011 they expanded their reach to the Santa Cruz Mountains, and most recently to Moon Mountain and Napa. In 2015, they moved into a new barrel room in Healdsburg, where they operate from today. Having had no investors or partners in the project, it allowed John and his team the freedom to experiment and to only bottle wines they wished to produce. From a winemaking perspective, they strive for minimal intervention in the cellar. Their oak selections are sourced from two coopers and utilize a light toast, from selections with a tight grain. The wines express a pure, focused style that will appeal to those who seek tension and precision.
About the producer
Created in 2005 by John Raytek, Ceritas is one of California’s most exciting producers. The project is focused on making single-site wines from Northern California’s coastal regions, largely Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.