2007 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)

Although I suppose there are even some long-time California chardonnay lovers who find these wines a bit too flamboyantly rich, I'd have to consider myself a major fan. Aubert vinified a small crop in 2007, bringing in an average of just two tons of fruit per acre, and considers this to be his best vintage since 2001. The sharp heat spike at the end of August and beginning of September, he told me, was "positive for finishing the ripening process, for bringing down the high levels of malic acidity due to the cold nights in August." In fact, Aubert went on, "we had very little raisining in 2007, virtually no surmaturite." As is normally the case with these wines, the alcoholic fermentations went very slowly, and both the sugars and the malos finished in April or May. Aubert keeps his wines on their lees for 12 months but has cut back considerably on batonnage in recent years as these wines are already RICH ENOUGH!