Our Park Avenue Estate is the first addition to our Pinot Noir production in twelve years. Grown in the Sebastopol Hills, this new site is defined by red soils, a moderate climate, and estate-farmed, detail-driven viticulture. Growth at the Aubert standard takes time, and in this wine we have discovered newfound elegance and crystalline minerality.
Mark Aubert’s Tasting Notes
The 2024 Park Avenue Estate Pinot Noir is all about purity. A beam of pure, cool Bing cherry and ripe strawberry flavors leap from the glass, followed by sandalwood, white pepper, tobacco, and dried mint. The wine is seemingly transparent in the focus and delineation of its multifaceted elements – a rare characteristic only attainable from the perfect alignment of site and vintage. With additional air, the wine continues to blossom, developing additional brambly fruit and sweet earth tones. Soft and caressing in its structural composition, this is a wine that is inviting in its youth but possesses the density and energy to reward years of careful cellaring.
Park Avenue elicits thoughts of icons, history, towers, and titans. Nestled between our ‘Lauren’ and ‘CIX’ Estate Vineyards, Park Avenue was our fourth Estate Vineyard to be planted and fifth to come into production. It shares the same hillside and exposure as Lauren, but has a distinctly different stretch of ancient seabed and subsoils.
Mark Aubert’s Tasting Notes
The 2024 Park Avenue Estate Chardonnay is exotic and kaleidoscopic, unfurling in waves of floral, citrus, and spice elements. Complex aromas of lemongrass, mint, and candied grapefruit emerge first, followed by lime leaf and tangerine zest. A flinty, slate minerality develops, along with white tea and candied ginger. On the palate, the wine is equally kaleidoscopic, with flavors of lemon oil, Tahitian vanilla, white pepper, and key lime pie. Texturally dense and buttressed by a beam of fresh acidity, the 2024 Park Avenue Chardonnay is structured for the long haul and will continue to blossom for a decade or more in the cellar.
Powder House is the culmination of Mark Aubert’s 30+ years producing Chardonnay. Planted with one of our rarest Chardonnay clones, Powder House highlights the distinct, powdery Goldridge soils on this hilly site.
Mark Aubert’s Tasting Notes
The 2024 Powder House Chardonnay exemplifies freshness and liveliness, wafting forth with bright tones of lime leaf and lime curd, tuberose, and fleshy nectarine. Tightly coiled, the 2024 Powder House slowly unfolds and unfurls in the glass to reveal its true structural complexity and deceptive richness. On the palate, chalky mineral elements and cooling menthol reinforce this tight composition and further hint at the underlying power and expansiveness. The wine finishes long and multifaceted, with a beam of acidity that carries its citrus tones across the palate for minutes on end. A wine built for ageing, the 2024 Powder House will continue to blossom well beyond a decade with proper cellaring. The wine is slightly hazy, showing our commitment to minimal intervention winemaking.
The Hudson Vineyard runs along a northern stretch of Carneros soils that are thin and rocky. As a result, these old vines struggle to produce even the most modest of crops. After a long, 10 year wait to join the Hudson fraternity, we are pleased to be working with a grower who shares with us a common vision and dedication to quality. It was worth the wait.
Mark Aubert’s Tasting Notes
The 2024 Hudson Chardonnay is a wine of massive breadth and concentration, opening with intense aromas of juicy apricot, peach, and pineapple fruits. Aromas of lily, beeswax, honey, and toast add dimension to its broad-shouldered frame. On the palate, the wine is texturally rich and enveloping with flavors of ripe stone fruit, ginger-orange sorbet and almond. Finishing with a characteristic honeyed tone and waxy texture, this is a wine with undeniable immediate impact that also possesses the structural elements and fresh acidity to carry for years of graceful cellaring.
The CIX Vineyard Chardonnay embodies everything we seek in a Chardonnay – distinctive aromatics, coupled with Goldridge soil that lends a varied richness and breadth. The aromatics reflect the soil influenced minerals with White Burgundian nuances.
Mark Aubert’s Tasting Notes
The 2024 CIX Chardonnay is stately and expansive, blossoming aromatically with a beguiling mix of orchard fruits, peach, apple turnover, and almond. Further notes of lemon balm, orange oil, and wildflower honey emerge with time. Broad and profound, on the palate the 2024 CIX expresses a tremendous amount of intensity and power with an upfront wave of ripe apple and lemon flavor, followed by a complex mix of floral and pastry tones. On the finish, the wine showcases the fresh natural acidity and sweet, earthy minerality unique to this cool, late-ripening site, acting as a counterpoint to its upfront richness and volume. This multifaceted cuvée is endowed with all the elements necessary for long, rewarding ageing in the cellar and will continue to develop additional complexity over the next 15 years or more. The wine is slightly hazy, showing our commitment to minimal intervention winemaking.
Our first ever Estate Pinot Noir, the CIX is Grand Cru Aubert. This Pinot is our most reminiscent of red Burgundy. This cooler site in Forestville creates an ethereal, delicate, and elegant wine.
Mark Aubert’s Tasting Notes
The 2024 CIX Estate Pinot Noir is intense and multifaceted, brimming with a potent mix of red and black berry fruits, spicy and herbaceous elements, and a serious structural frame. Inviting aromas of warm Morello cherry, blackberry, and red plum emerge from the glass along with a complex mix of fresh and dried iris, bergamot, and ferrous mineral tones. The palate is a beguiling mix of fresh cherry and blackberry oil comingled with potpourri and sappy pine that carry and gain complexity across a minute-long finish. Structurally the wine is firm and delineated, with mouthwatering acidity that promises a long, fruitful life in the cellar.
Our passion for Eastside begins with its rocky slopes and cobbled soil, and is rewarded with the small, concentrated clusters that these vines struggle to produce each year. The distinctive site-specific undertones and complex fruit-driven overtones of this wine exemplify an Aubert Chardonnay.
Mark Aubert’s Tasting Notes
The 2024 Eastside Chardonnay is electric. Its abundant energy is framed by the telltale beam of acidity and gravelly minerality that are the hallmarks of this steep, rocky site. A mélange of lime and lemon zest, tea tree oil, tangerine, and green apple emerge from the glass, with flavors that match and add additional elements of ripe stone fruits. Ultimately, the 2024 Eastside is a wine that showcases rare textural precision, with a phenolic backbone that promotes its chiseled, focused structure, and complements the natural richness that is Undeniably Aubert. These structural elements promise a long, fruitful life in the cellar for 10 to 15 years or more. The wine is slightly hazy, showing our commitment to minimal intervention winemaking.
The vineyard has a simple moniker, “a warm spot in a cool place.” This unique climate allows us to achieve optimally ripe grapes with a vin-de-garde personality. The wine exhibits organic notes derived from the soil, while the palate reveals immense depth and complexity.
Mark Aubert’s Tasting Notes
The 2024 Larry Hyde & Sons Chardonnay is a case study in complex, soil-driven wine. At once full of generous, ripe apricot and lemon oils, the 2024 Larry Hyde & Sons is equally defined by its spicy, earthy notes of white pepper, crystallized ginger, and buckwheat honey. On the palate the wine continues with notes of lemon thyme, chamomile, and beeswax. Ethereal and graceful, the 2024 Larry Hyde & Sons seemingly dances across the palate. The complexity of this cuvée and textural and aromatic density afforded by old vines on this storied terroir provide the underpinnings for effortless development over the next 10 to 15 years of cellar age. The wine is slightly hazy, showing our commitment to minimal intervention winemaking.
Our first production of Lauren Estate wine was in 2003, and revealed our definition of perfection. Comprised of four distinct Chardonnay clones, this wine is a hypothetical blend of Sonoma Coast with White Burgundy. Fabulously concentrated and layered with density and extract, the aromatics and mouth feel are profound.
Mark Aubert’s Tasting Notes
The 2024 Lauren Chardonnay is the ideal Aubert wine, epitomizing the elusive character of ‘weightless density’—a wine that possesses intensity and depth of flavor while simultaneously balancing textural fineness and tension that create lift and liveliness across the palate. This rare duality is only achieved with old, low-yielding vines on special sites in a steady, moderate growing season like 2024. Aromatically the wine crescendos with lime zest, lemon thyme, and gardenia across a backdrop of stone fruit oils. Cardamom, white pepper and petrichor add additional spicy, exotic flair across the palate. The 2024 Lauren is a wine that rewards each revisit with a kaleidoscope of flavor, aroma, and texture. A wine of this stature will effortlessly develop further complexity well beyond 10 to 15 years with proper cellaring. The wine is slightly hazy, showing our commitment to minimal intervention winemaking.
We set out to move a mountain; to narrow the stylistic differences between Napa and Sonoma Chardonnays. The clone specifically selected for our Rutherford site, Sugar Shack, is expressive of its terroir and can maintain high acidity levels. These qualities allow the resulting wine to express characteristics similar to its Sonoma cousins.
Mark Aubert’s Tasting Notes
The 2024 Sugar Shack Chardonnay is generous and inviting, with cascading aromas of orange oil, ripe peach, and an exotic, tropical flair. On the palate the wine is ample and lavish, with sweet alyssum and sarsaparilla notes providing spicy and floral complexity. The 2024 Sugar Shack Chardonnay perfectly encapsulates the sunny, steady-ripening vintage in its bright citrus overtones. Brisk acidity and a cool, river rock minerality on the finish add a tension and freshness that make the 2024 Sugar Shack impossible to resist. This is a fabulous wine to enjoy over the next 10 years or more. The wine is slightly hazy, showing our commitment to minimal intervention winemaking.