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 2022 Park Avenue Chardonnay is exotic and joyful, bounding from the glass with fragrant yuzu oil, passionfruit, and lemongrass. Structurally, the wine is lithe and fresh, with almond croissant and ripe apricot flavors adding a rich counterpoint to the racy texture. Orange oil and white pepper add further layers of complexity, with a fine beam of acidity that crescendos across the palate, guiding and delineating the wine’s long finish. The wine is slightly hazy, showing our commitment to minimal intervention winemaking.
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 2023 Powder House is sublime and electric, with exotic aromas of kaffir lime, galangal, honey orchid oolong, and peach erupting from the glass. Saline, crushed shell and iodine tones echo the ancient seabed soils of this site. Flavors of lime custard and nectarine add volume and richness. The palate possesses a rare degree of textural focus, balancing mouthcoating density with mineral purity and freshness, culminating in an incredibly long and elegant finish that will carry for 10 to 15 years in the cellar with ease. 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 2019 Hudson is an enticing elixir of quince preserves, fresh almond, beeswax candle, apple turnover, and wet stone embellished with hints of musk rose and lavender honey. The concentrated palate is draped in white stone fruits, and its glycerin texture is braced by an exquisite mineral underpinning. This wine has more to reveal and will cellar confidently for 10-15 years. The wine is slightly hazy showing our commitment to minimal intervention winemaking.
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 2023 CIX is a beguilingly complex expression of site. Densely packed with aromas of apricot, persimmon, honey, and opal apple, the wine also conveys an underlying terroir of cool white ash, reminiscent of fresh rainfall among the vines. The palate is rich and enveloping, with flavors of apple galette and alpine herbs, finishing with undeniable gras and balance. This wine will continue to develop and unfurl for 10 to 15 years to slowly reveal its true complexity. 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 2022 CIX Pinot Noir is sanguine and cerebral, unfurling with aromas of fresh blackberries, boysenberry, and violet above a backdrop of incense and oolong tea. On the palate, brambly fruits intermingle with mint and cedar in a complex balance of sweet and savory tones. The wine is rich and mouth-coating while possessing a chiseled, balanced framework. Such structural completeness is only achievable with old vines on this special, volcanic terroir. The rare degree of focus in aroma, flavor, and texture are a surefire promise of graceful cellaring for years to come.
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 2023 Eastside is densely packed, intensely floral, and coiled. The characteristic minerality of the vineyard is focused and amplified in this vintage, gradually emerging in the glass with compounding saline and gravelly nuances. Ripe cling peach, Damask rose, and green apple add richness. The textural complexity, natural phenolic structure, and mineral core promise a long and graceful 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 2023 Larry Hyde & Sons Chardonnay emphasizes its sophisticated minerality and laser focus. On the palate, sweet bosc pear and crystallized ginger mingle with savory, soil-driven chrysanthemum, narcissus, and orange blossom florals. The palate unfurls in waves of orchard fruits and lemongrass, with a flinty minerality and acid backbone culminating in a long, pure finish. The complex, savory profile of this wine will continue to morph and expand well beyond a decade in the cellar, promising many years of excitement to come. 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
A testament to the culmination of old vines, grand cru terroir, and an immaculate growing season, the 2023 Lauren is complete and memorable. The wine is effortlessly lifted yet deeply enveloped, striking a balance between lithe elegance and rich concentration. Complex apple oil, sweet alyssum, cardamom, and petrichor aromas gently unfurl, and the palate is packed full of orchard fruit distillates. With taut, focused acidity the wine finishes in a dramatic crescendo of tension and expressiveness. 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 2023 Sugar Shack is pure and effusive, opening with sunny aromas of nectarine, Valencia orange oil, and lily. A bouquet of acacia and sweet mint emerges in the glass along with a nutty, toasted almond nuance. The palate is rich and full bodied, with flavors of peach sorbet and apricot pâte de fruit, finishing with a spicy grapefruit oil lift. This is a fabulous wine to enjoy over the next 10 to 15 years. The wine is slightly hazy showing our commitment to minimal intervention winemaking.
The unique clay composition of the soils at the UV site is exhibited in this Pinot Noir’s perfumed aromatics and voluptuous texture.
Mark Aubert’s Tasting Notes
The 2022 UV Pinot Noir is a vibrant, inviting wine. Heady black cherry oil and crushed raspberry fruits leap from the glass atop crushed grandiflora rose and hibiscus floral notes. Flavors of hoisin, five-spice, and sous bois add warm and earthy layers to the radiant, deep-ruby core of the wine. Bright acidity, long, fine grained tannin and a silky texture further the wine’s instant appeal, multifaceted personality, and longevity.