Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Vinous
The highlight in this range from Aubert, the 2011 Chardonnay CIX Estate is fabulous. Bright and focused, the 2011 remains wonderfully fresh and vibrant for a wine of its age. The magnum format surely helps, but wow, what a wine! Lemon peel, crushed rocks, mint, white flowers and white pepper lend tons of brilliance. Readers who are cellaring the 2011 should the thrilled. This is another stunning wine from Mark and Teresa Aubert made from vines that were just six years old.
-
James Suckling
Big yet balanced sums this wine up. Lots of dried apricot and cooked pear character. Full-bodied. So much there. Solid. Phenolic texture. Seems to be tightening with age!
-
Wine Spectator
Exhibits a rich core of citrus, ripe pear, honeysuckle, hazelnut and green apple flavors, tightly wound with lively acidity and ending with a long, persistent finish and a crushed rock minerality.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Chardonnay CIX Vineyard is the least expressive of these single-vineyard wines. Bright floral notes meld into various shades of citrus. There is plenty of polish, but the CIX doesn’t have anywhere near the level of complexity and/or nuance of the best wines in the range. Today, the CIX appears to still be somewhat of a work in progress relative to the high level that is customary throughout the rest of the range.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.