“The 2023 Chardonnays are some of the best I've ever made,” said Mark Aubert. “It's the vintage. As long as you were very diligent with yields, you could get amazing flavor and intensity in 2023. It was like a long piece of music. Our average hang time was 2 to 4 weeks longer than usual.”

I visited Mark to taste his 2023s just after he had finished putting his 25^th harvest to barrel: the 2024s. Much has changed since his inaugural vintage—2000. "We now have five estate vineyards and the best growers," smiled Mark. "We’re in a good place."

Among the new wines in the 2023 line-up is an old friend: Hudson Vineyard Chardonnay is back. I have always loved tasting a Hudson next to a Hyde Vineyard—the vineyards are close, and the quality of each is among the best, yet the wines are so different. The 2023 Hudson is impressive for its showy flamboyance, but Aubert’s Hyde Vineyard in 2023 is simply mind-blowing. If I had the 2023 Chardonnay Larry Hyde & Sons Vineyard (from the Hydes’ smaller parcel on the south side of the Sonoma Highway) served to me blind, I would be inclined to guess it a Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne. It’s not just the quality of the wine but the style and its insane level of intensity. It’s an absolute must-try!

"The 2023 Park Avenue Estate is the newest Pinot in our family," said Mark. 

Aubert bought the Park Avenue Vineyard in 2013. It’s located right in between the Lauren and CIX vineyards. A neighbor who owned these 12 acres next to Lauren, previously planted with apples, passed away. There is a long road leading up to the vineyard, hence the name Park Avenue. The Chardonnay here is mainly Hyde Clone with a little bit of Montrachet on 101-14 and 420A rootstocks.

“This is an ancient seabed that, unusually, has iron in the profile,” said Mark. “Our Pinot Noir planted here is 100% Calera Clone. This vineyard is in Sebastopol and is the coolest of the Pinot vineyards we farm. We declassified the first two harvests; this 2023 is the first vintage we've bottled.”

I tasted the 2023 Chardonnays as tank samples—only a few weeks away from bottling. Therefore, I’ve given them final scores instead of the bracketed scores reserved for barrel samples. The 2023 Chardonnays are already well-defined, bright, and expressive—compellingly complete. 

The 2023 Pinot Noirs were bottled in the summer of 2024. These are right up there with the very best Aubert has made to date.

As for the 2024 harvest, although it was a warmer vintage and there were a few heat spikes throughout the 2024 growing season with very little fog to speak of, there was one notable similarity between 2023 and 2024. 

“2024 was potentially a huge crop,” said Mark. “You had to drop some fruit. Some people will have got caught out. We're very dogmatic with our growers when it comes to yields. It's my way or the highway. Our Pinot skins were perfect in 2024. The color came very easily this vintage. We think the 2024 Pinots could be even better than the 2023s.”

That’s saying something because Aubert’s 2023 Chardonnays and Pinots will be tough acts to follow. 

For those interested in reading more about Aubert’s style and winemaking, check out THIS ARTICLE published last year.