2023 · Marena Chardonnay

Ceritas is a family-owned California winery founded in 2005 by husband-and-wife team John Raytek and Phoebe Bass. Based in Healdsburg, they focus on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the West Sonoma Coast and Santa Cruz Mountains, with a vineyard-first approach centered on distinctive sites, old vines, dry farming, and close work with grower partners. Farming is sustainable or organic across their sources, with biodynamic farming at Porter-Bass. In the cellar, John Raytek follows a minimal-intervention, Old World-inspired style, using methods such as indigenous yeasts, long fermentations, and limited new oak to let site and vintage show clearly. Their wines are consistently described as precise, pure, energetic, and structured, with strong aging potential.