Description

Imagine a vineyard staring at a valley filled with coastal fog. Redwood trees whip around as the cool ocean air slides across this land. Here at Zephyr, Chardonnay ripens slowly, bringing forth the savory flavors you often find in our mountain wines from Santa Cruz, but with a clear, linear freshness that reminds you of its origins. Farmed with meticulous care by our good friend Greg Adams for the past 18 years allows us to manage each row with precision to grow optimized grapes expressing the purity of the site.

2021 Tasting Note – John Raytek
This is a punishing, marginal place to grow grapes. In the glass, a brilliant white-gold color gives way to an aroma of lemon oil, underripe stone fruit, and ocean spray. The wind and the cold at the site can be felt in the mouth, where thick-skinned berries have given phenolic heft to the wine. A nervy vein of freshness lifts the whole experience.

They have twelve sites that they source from today in  Sonoma and Santa Cruz, not necessarily owned by, but all under Ceritas control. All farmed organically or bio-dynamically. They have noted that disease pressure is higher towards the coast and there is almost none as you go inland towards Dry Creek Valley, most of their vineyards are thus 3-6 miles inland from the coast. The further away from the coast they look for vineyards facing away from the sun and the opposite closer to the coast.
Vine age is important, John looks for vines over 30 years old with deep root systems that permit dry farming. He also only looks for “pre-Dijon” suitcase clones from Burgundy and native American heirloom clones. For example he produces Chardonnay from the Wente clone only and there are different selection of the Wente clone. For Pinot Noir he selects only the Calera, Swan, Mt Eden and Pommard clones as they are slower to ripen, retain more acidity and have a diversity of ripening pattern.

For elevage he works with only two coopers, tight grain wood and with the lowest possible toast and absolutely no char. Chardonnay sees no new wood at all and Pinot Noir sees 25% new wood as an average across all wines.