Ceritas Chardonnay Charles Heintz Vineyard 2020

Charles Heintz is one of the oldest and most storied Chardonnay sites on the Sonoma Coast, and it is the rich counterpoint to Ceritas’s cold, taut Carex. The vineyard sits just east of Occidental, planted in the 1980s on classic Goldridge sandy loam, just above the fog line where it gets abundant sunshine tempered by cool ocean breezes. The vines are now around four decades old, among the oldest Chardonnay on the coast, and the fruit ripens slowly. It defied the conventional wisdom of the 1980s that this was not Chardonnay country. John Raytek and Phoebe Bass, who founded Ceritas in 2005, farm their parcel of about five acres organically and make the wine with native yeast, minimal intervention and restrained oak.

The result is fuller and more expressive than Carex, with the richness balanced by bright acidity and salty minerality. Citrus blossom, orange zest and fresh pineapple lead, along with green apple, pear and wet stone, and the exotic, lightly tropical character is a signature of the site. In some years it also shows saline, brothy and savoury notes. The palate is silky and opulent but focused, with a long, mineral finish.