Winemaker Notes
The 2017 UV-SL Vineyard Chardonnay is an authoritative wine with incredible depth and complexity. Tightly wound at first, the nose opens to intense aromas of pain grillé, poached pear, key lime, chamomile, and orange blossom tea. Textured layers of lemon confit, apricot preserves, and crème anglaise coat the palate with an elusive background note of sea spray throughout. Vibrant acidity adds intensity to the long and pure finish. This robust 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.
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesFermented and aged in 80% new French oak barrels, the 2017 Chardonnay UV-SL flaunts a wonderfully Puligny-esque nose, featuring a subtle, elusive matchstick character over the bold grapefruit, white peaches and lemon pie scents plus nuances of cashews, melted candle, crushed rocks and oyster shells. Full-bodied, the palate is arrestingly elegant with a whole myriad of nuances, delivering seamless freshness at its core and finishing very long with loads of lingering savory notes.
Mark Aubert’s Sonoma Coast vineyard-designate Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs have risen in popularity at a dizzying speed. Aubert’s career in winemaking began in 1989 at Peter Michael under the tutelage of Helen Turley, which led to his time at Colgin, Sloan, Futo and then Bryant Family, before founding Aubert Wines with his wife Teresa in 1999. His wines express the essence of singular terroirs with an effortless grace. Mark crafts the wines of Aubert to speak to a variety of wine lovers with one thing in common – selective palates that expect nothing but the best.
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.
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.