Aubert

Aubert was created by Mark and Theresa Aubert in 1999. Mark makes the wines, while his wife Theresa runs the business side of the operation. Mark Aubert had grown up in St Helena, working at various leading estates – most notably at Peter Michael under Helen Turley, as well as at Bryant and Colgin.

Together with his wife, they bought 3.2 hectares on the Sonoma Coast in 1999, planting it with Chardonnay and naming it after their daughter Lauren. They wanted to create classical, terroir-driven, Burgundy-inspired Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. In 2000, they made their first wine – purchasing fruit from the Ritchie vineyard. The wine rapidly earned critical acclaim, and was key in building the reputation of the now-famous Ritchie site. In 2003, they made their first Pinot Noir from the Reuling vineyard.

Aubert quickly made a name for itself for its world-class single-site Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, embracing a hedonistic, full-blown style that developed a cult following. The wines are generous, packed full of fruit, often with quite high alcohols, yet also with the acidity to balance their generosity.

The early vintages were made at the Laird Family Winery, and Marc Aubert continued to consult at various estates until 2009. In 2010, the duo bought the former August Briggs winery which they remodelled and made their own, and Mark has focused exclusively on the project ever since.

Yields are low (around 2.5 tons per acre), producing concentrated fruit. The Chardonnay is all barrel-fermented and aged, almost exclusively in new French oak, and sees full malolactic fermentation.

They work with both estate vineyards and contracted sites, all with the expectation that they’ll make wine from them for over 50 years. The estate sites are Lauren (in Forestville, on gravelly Goldridge soils, it typically produces their most concentrated Chardonnay), CIX (taking its name from the map reference for the site, with white, calcareous soils, planted to largely Chardonnay with a little Pinot Noir), Sugar Shack (their home estate in Rutherford, planted to Chardonnay), Park Avenue (between Lauren and CIX) and Powder House. Alongside these three they work with Eastside (Russian River, Chardonnay), Hyde (their coolest site), UV-SL and UV (both taking their name from the late vineyard manager Ulises Valdez, with the latter Pinot Noir only).

In total the range today consists of eight Chardonnays and three Pinot Noirs. They have previously made wines from sites including Hudson, Ritchie, Reuling, PMW and Quarry. There was also briefly a Right Bank inspired Bordeaux blend from one of David Abreu’s vineyards, Lucia.

Production is small, around 15,000 cases per year and the wines in unsurprisingly high demand. The wines are sold almost exclusively via their mailing list, direct to private clients, and to a handful of select local restaurants.