Aubert Tasting at WWWB

Owner/winemaker Mark Aubert has had a distinguished winemaking career including a 12-year stint at Peter Michael where he followed Helen Turley. Aubert succeeded Turley again several years later at Colgin Cellars. He has been a winemaking consultant for several prestigious wineries including Sloan, Bryant and Futo. He crafts outstanding vineyard-designate Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs from estate and leased vineyards in the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast in a full-blown hedonistic style. The first wines were released with the 2000 vintage. Ulises Valdez is Aubert's vineyard manager.

The winemaking process at Aubert is carefully guided by a winemaker with a farmer’s heart and artisan’s soul.  The essence of making great wine is rooted in a relationship with the land – it’s about the soil, about growing, about nurturing, about farming.   At Aubert the look to nature for guidance and to science for insight, as they craft wine with minimal intervention so a sense of place is elegantly reflected in every bottle of Aubert wine. 

Until 2008, the two Pinot Noirs have been from the Reuling Vineyard and UV Vineyard, both located in the Sonoma Coast AVA. A new estate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vineyard has been planted adjacent Reuling, 4 acres of Pinot Noir were planted at Ritchie Vineyard in 2008, and 9 acres of Pinot Noir have been planted at a new site high above the town of Occidental. In 2008, there were six different single vineyard Chardonnays and five Pinot Noir wines.

A new winery located at 333 Silverado Trail in Calistoga, CA was acquired in 2010 and the Auberts will move into the 8,000 square foot winery in January 2011.   With all of the critical acclaim that Mark has had over the years these wines have become some of the hardest to come by in all of California, most of them are only sold through the wineries mailing list. 

Join us as we experience 10 different wines from Aubert Winery along with a special tasting menu for less than the cost of a single bottle of most of the offerings from this new California Cult Chardonnay and Pinot Noir producer.  The fee for this tasting is $150 + tax for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

Aubert Wine Tasting at WWWB
Wednesday, August 16th
7:30pm

2012 Aubert Chardonnay Lauren Vineyard
Price: $170.00    Sale Price: $140.00
Quantity in Stock: 5

(98 points) (Note from 2013 review, re-reviewed with no new note in 2014) We finished the Chardonnay portion of the tasting with Mark Aubert’s favorite wine, the 2012 Chardonnay Lauren Estate, which comes from rich Goldridge soils. There are 1,000 cases of this straw/greenish-colored beauty fashioned from various clones, including the Old Wente, Hyde, Hudson Corton-Charlemagne selection and the Mt. Eden clones. It possesses more of a tannic backbone than its siblings because of its grip. Full-bodied with lots of honeyed citrus, orange marmalade and abundant fruit on the attack and mid-palate, this youthful Chardonnay seems barely touched by its oak aging. (RP) (12/2014) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2012 Aubert Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard
Price: $165.00    Sale Price: $125.00
Quantity in Stock: 8

(95 points)  (Note from 2013 review, re-reviewed with no new note in 2014) Mark Aubert farms 39-year-old vines in the famous Ritchie Vineyard. At 1,200 cases, the 2012 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard is the largest production cuvee of these Chardonnays. It reveals a more evolved nose of smoky hazelnuts, honeysuckle, and tropical fruits, less minerality, and full-bodied unctuosity buttressed by crisp acids. It is a fatter, richer, complex, more California-styled Chardonnay...(RP) (12/2014) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2013 Aubert Chardonnay Lauren
Price: $190.00    Sale Price: $150.00
Quantity in Stock: 1

(98 points) The 2013 Chardonnay Lauren Estate is made from 15-year-old vines from the old Wente and Mt. Eden clones of Chardonnay planted in Goldridge soils. This wine offers loads of nectarine, honeysuckle, liquefied rock, quince and white currants. The wine has incredible richness, no real evidence of any of the 100% new oak it is aged in, and a multi-dimensional, long finish. This compelling Chardonnay is still young and capable of lasting 10-15 years. (RP) (12/2015) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2013 Aubert Chardonnay Ritchie
Price: $160.00    Sale Price: $130.00
Quantity in Stock: 2

(96 points) From the oldest vines that Aubert works with, the 2013 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard is made from the old Wente clone favored by so many of the top winemakers for Chardonnay. It boasts the wet rocks and candied citrus, the white peach and pineapple notes, has a strong green hue to the light gold color, and a full-bodied, powerful finish. It is a ten-year wine at the minimum. (RP) (12/2015) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2014 Aubert Chardonnay Larry Hyde & Sons
Price: $160.00    Sale Price: $130.00
Quantity in Stock: 6

(95 Points)  "The 2014 Chardonnay Larry Hyde & Sons has a greenish hue to its light-gold color, a fresh, lively nose of poached pears, citrus oil, honeysuckle, a hint of pineapple and tangerine. This is a beautiful, full-bodied Chardonnay to drink over the next decade or more. The Wine Advocate

2014 Aubert Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard Sonoma Coast
Price: $170.00    Sale Price: $130.00
Quantity in Stock: 3

(97 points) The old vines certainly show well in the 2014 Chardonnay Ritchie, with an almost Alsatian-like petrol nose that is starting to come on. This wine that is full-bodied, with incredible ripeness, purity and overall equilibrium, offers up plenty of tropical fruit and citrus, white peach and pineapple. The wine should drink well for at least another decade. Mark Aubert continues to set the bar incredibly high for the world-class quality of his Burgundian-styled, remarkable Chardonnays, which come from relatively cool sites spread from Rutherford in Napa Valley to the far reaches of the Sonoma Coast. (RP) (10/2016) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2014 Aubert Pinot Noir UV-SL Vineyard
Price: $180.00    Your Price: $158.40
Quantity in Stock: 2

(98 Points) "The 2014 Pinot Noir UV-SL is made from both the Vosne-Romanée and Calera clones of Pinot Noir. This is pure Sonoma Coast Pinot, with a sweet nose of root beer, blackcurrants, black cherries, and forest floor. It is the most densely colored of all four Pinot Noirs, and shows the biggest body, structure and richness. I also think it’s the most concentrated. This is an amazing wine and may have been the best 2014 Pinot Noir I tasted on this last trip. It should drink well for 10-15+ years. " The Wine Advocate

2013 Aubert Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
Price: $120.00    Sale Price: $90.00
Quantity in Stock: 1

(93 Points) "The 2013 Pinot Noir is fabulous. Pliant, supple and expressive, the Sonoma Coast is a window into this collection of superb Pinots. Dark red cherries, white flowers, mint and spices are some of the notes that caress the palate in this perfumed, exquisite Pinot Noir from Mark Aubert. At many estates, the Sonoma Coast would be the top of the line; here it is the entry-level bottling." Vinous / Antonio Galloni

2013 Aubert Pinot Noir UV-SL Vineyard
Price: $180.00    Sale Price: $150.00
Quantity in Stock: 3

(96 points) The 2013 Pinot Noir UV-SL Vineyard is the most opulent and extroverted of these Pinots, but it is also the most compelling. Endowed with huge fruit, and an explosive mid-palate, the UV-SL captures the very best of this style of Pinot. Layers of dark, inky fruit built to a crescendo of intensity and juiciness. Hints of lavender, spices and violets wrap around the finish, with plenty of support from beams of underlying tannin. (AG) (1/2015) Vinous

2009 Aubert Pinot Noir UV Vineyard

(93 points) The 2009 Pinot Noir UV Vineyard once again shows the richness and heft of the clay-rich soils in this site. This is an especially dense Pinot, even by Aubert’s standards, that needs another year or so in bottle to start shedding some of its baby fat. Despite the wine’s richness, there is more than enough underlying minerality to give the wine a sense of proportion and harmony. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2019. (AG) (2/2012)  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Menu

Crispy Duck Breast with Vanilla cherry and brie pie

Lamb Osso Buco with Pinot Noir reduction over mint, green pea and leek risotto

There are only 14 spaces available for this tasting and the fee is $150 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

All of the Aubert wines in stock at Wine Watch:

2014 Aubert Chardonnay UV-SL Vineyard
Price: $180.00    Sale Price: $150.00
Quantity in Stock: 2

(96 points) From a cold site, the 2014 Chardonnay UV-SL is from a dry-farmed vineyard. This seems to have been the most closed wine that I tasted of the 2014s. The wine has loads of citrus oil, real crisp, zesty acids (giving it a more compressed feeling that some of the other wines) and a long finish. Tipping the scales at 15.5% natural alcohol, it doesn’t have a trace of heat, but shows the strength, ripeness and intensity he has achieved. This is a long-distance runner of 10-15 years. (RP) (10/2016) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2014 Aubert Chardonnay Sugar Shack
Price: $170.00    Sale Price: $140.00
Quantity in Stock: 6

(97 points) Another stunner is the 2014 Chardonnay Sugar Shack. This wine, which was harvested August 18, 2014, was one of the earliest picks Mark Aubert had ever done. The wine offers up great fruit, which includes notes of pineapple, green apple, honeysuckle and peach marmalade. It is full-bodied with exceptional purity, lingering across the palate. Drink it over the next 7-12 years. This is the only vineyard for Chardonnay that he has in Napa Valley. (RP) (10/2016) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2014 Aubert Chardonnay Eastside Vineyard
Price: $180.00    Sale Price: $150.00
Quantity in Stock: 5

(98 points) Absolutely profound is the 2014 Chardonnay Eastside, from the vineyard owned by well-known viticulturalist and farmer Ulises Valdez and planted with a suitcase Montrachet clone on a low-yielding root stock called Riparia Gloire. Smoky crème brûlée notes intermixed with white peach, nectarine, orange marmalade, honeysuckle and buttered apples all jump from the glass of this great Chardonnay that is Grand cru quality, incredibly pure, dense, and long. (RP) (10/2016) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2014 Aubert Chardonnay Sonoma Coast
Price: $180.00    Sale Price: $140.00
Quantity in Stock: 9

2013 Aubert Chardonnay UV-SL Vineyard Sonoma Coast
Price: $180.00    Sale Price: $140.00
Quantity in Stock: 3

(97+ Points) "The UV-SL Vineyard is another Sonoma Coast vineyard planted with old Wente clones on the classic deep Goldridge sandy soils of the region. The 2013 Chardonnay UV-SL, with loads of nectarine, tangerine oil, mango and caramelized citrus, has a super-core of fruit and tips the scales at 15.8% alcohol. It also offers great structure and a liquid stone minerality. This big, fascinating wine was totally closed when I first tasted it, but is now expressing itself in a dramatic and compelling way. Its should drink well for 10-12+ years. It sounds like a broken record, but Mark Aubert is certainly one of a handful of California’s finest practitioners of Burgundy-styled, classic California Chardonnays. He’s at the top of the pyramid for these extraordinary wines, and he’s not that far behind when it comes to Burgundian-styled, rich, impressive Pinot Noirs as well. Of course, he has his own winery, and continues to acquire high-quality, cool-climate sites for his Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, with Cix, Eastside, Lauren Estate and Sugar Shack Estate all now part of Aubert’s estate vineyards. Mark Aubert had an impressive resumé long before he became this famous, mentored by Helen Turley when he was at Peter Michael, and from there spending impressive tenures at Colgin and Tom Futo’s winery before he went off bound for glory. I am a big buyer of these wines every year, and often serve the wines to strangers at charity events. They are consistently the favorites that people taste. All of Aubert’s wines tend to push about 15% natural alcohol as he is not shy about ripeness, but they also have great acids. They are aged in 100% new oak that is virtually untraceable, given the quality of the fruit and his magical élevage, which produces wines that are pure and precise. His 2012s were probably his most ostentatious and dramatic wines to date, but the 2013s, after a somewhat sluggish tightness when they were first bottled, are now exploding with quality and intensity. His 2014s are among the great, great successes of the vintage. As he told me, 2014 was a tiny crop for him, and all of the wines are slightly bigger than even his 2013s and 2012s, meaning they are in excess of 15% alcohol, but they have intense acid profiles due to the drought and dry soils where his vineyards are planted." eRobertParker.com #222  (WA, 12/01/2015) Drink from: 2016-2028

2013 Aubert Chardonnay Sugar Shack
Price: $260.00    Sale Price: $200.00
Quantity in Stock: 3

(99 points) There are 350 cases of the 2005 Chardonnay Reuling Vineyard, which comes from the Goldridge soils of this Sonoma Coast site. This Chardonnay comes from a clone suitcased over from the Montrachet vineyard in Burgundy. There is no doubting the liquid minerality, striking honeyed citrus, white currant, hazelnut, and brioche notes are more French than California, but the power and richness are pure New World. An absolutely remarkable Chardonnay that is certainly one of the top half dozen or so Chardonnays I have ever tasted from California, this is a stunningly proportioned, profound wine that should drink beautifully for 5-7 years, if you can resist it that long. Wine Advocate #174 Dec 2007

2012 Aubert Chardonnay Sugar Shack
Price: $320.00    Sale Price: $250.00
Quantity in Stock: 3

(99 points)  No tasting note given. Mark Aubert is one of the contenders for California’s finest practitioner of Burgundian-styled, yet classic, California Chardonnays. His offerings are all made like grand cru Burgundies with full malolactic, the use of French oak and lees stirring, but the purity of fruit, the textural dimensions, and the stunning singularity of these Chardonnays can only be matched by a handful of other Chardonnay producers in the world. He’s that good. (RP) (12/2014)  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2014 Aubert Pinot Noir Cix Vineyard
Price: $180.00    Sale Price: $150.00
Quantity in Stock: 4

(96 points)  Made entirely from a clone from the most famous vineyard in Burgundy, the 2014 Cix offers crisp acid, loads of black raspberry, forest floor and blueberry fruit, and tremendous density, richness, and intensity. (It’s interesting to note that these 2014s are all in bottle while the Chardonnays are still in tank awaiting bottling.) This is a wine with great fruit, terrific acids and a long finish. It should evolve for 10 or more years. (RP) (12/2015) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate