Ceritas Chardonnay Carex 2023

Carex is the cold, fog-bound Chardonnay in the Ceritas line-up. John Raytek and Phoebe Bass founded Ceritas in 2005, and it has become a sommelier and collector favourite for its tiny, minimal-intervention, Burgundy-minded wines. The vineyard sits low in a valley on the West Sonoma Coast, a little further east than Ceritas’s other sites but close to the daily flow of coastal fog, which rolls in early in the evening and lifts late in the morning, leaving just a few hours of sun. It is planted to the old Wente Hyde selection at a very high density, about 3,630 vines per acre, so the vines are small and shade their own fruit, which keeps the berries cool, thickens the skins and gives the wine a backbone that should age for a long time. Carex is the Latin name for a grass that grows in the vineyard. It is harvested early, in late August, the first of the Chardonnays to come in, and fermented with native yeast.

The result is taut, savoury and mineral. Honeysuckle, apple blossom, lemon balm and lime zest lead, with candle wax, wet stone and crushed rock, and a touch of mint and sage. The palate is medium-bodied and nervy, with fresh acidity, a rocky texture and a long finish.