2004 Chardonnay Lauren Vineyard

This small retrospective of Lauren Chardonnays from Mark Aubert provided a great opportunity to see how several older vintages are developing. Lauren was planted in 1998 with four clones of Chardonnay: Mt. Eden, Hudson, Hyde and Corton-Charlemagne. My impression is that clonal diversity in this site is one of the reasons the Lauren Chardonnay is such a complete and nuanced wine. Most of Aubert's other Chardonnay vineyards are planted with one or two (at most) clones. The Montrachet clone in particular tends to produce opulent, flamboyant wines, which won't come as a surprise to readers who know the wines of that famed Burgundy site. But Lauren is always a wine of detail and layers. The 2005 Lauren remains one of my all-time favorite California Chardonnays.

(Originally published in Sonoma Preview: January 2018 New Releases)

As if Mark Aubert's chardonnays were not already flamboyant and outsized enough, vintage 2004 brought a very small crop and an extra measure of concentration. Production, according to Aubert, ranged from 1 to 2. 5 tons per acre, as the clusters were very small. The pHs were the same as those of 2003, but the wines are a bit lower in acidity. Aubert describes his 2004s as "big and brooding," and noted that the fermentations lasted until April of 2005. Still, he felt that the wines were a bit more delicate than usual and thus he bottled them (in January of 2006) with more free sulfur than normal.