2019 Chardonnay Sugar Shack

This recent tasting with Mark Aubert and his team was one of the most remarkable I have had in over a decade of visits. I was deeply impressed not just with the quality of the wines but also with the consistency of what I tasted across multiple vineyards and three vintages. I was not able to stop by Aubert last fall, as the timing of my Napa Valley trip coincided with a very late harvest, so this was my first time tasting the 2022s and the 2021s from bottle. I also took the opportunity to taste the bottled Chardonnays from 2019s, wines I missed because of the pandemic. As readers will see from these notes, the wines are absolutely brilliant.

Mark Aubert got the most out of 2022, a vintage that created numerous challenges for producers, although less so in Sonoma than in Napa. Harvest started in mid-August, 7-10 days earlier than 2021. Most of the fruit was in by the end of the month, although a few sites lingered into mid-September. Ferments were on the longer side, as much as 30 days in some cases. The Pinots were done with fully destemmed fruit. I imagine the 2022s will drink well with minimal cellaring.

The finished 2021 Chardonnays are every bit as special as they were when I tasted them from tank prior to bottling. Wines of energy and site expression, the 2021s clearly have the potential to age. I found the 2019 Chardonnays in great shape. Many Vinous readers have inquired about the 2019s in recent months. I see it as a superb vintage to start delving into. The wines offer notable complexity that has developed since bottling yet remain youthful and full of life. As attractive as the Aubert wines are young, my personal preference is to drink them with a few years of bottle age.

Mark Aubert's 2019s are fabulous. The wines clearly benefit from a stable growing season that saw less heat than 2018, especially towards the end of the season. The Chardonnays are now so consistent that choosing among them really comes down to a matter of personal preference. The biggest change here is that the Pinots have moved away from the inky, bombastic style of the past towards an approach that emphasizes greater freshness and energy. There is still plenty of depth to the wines, but the 2019s have a level of detail I have not seen here before. I tasted the Chardonnays from tank just prior to bottling and the Pinots in bottle. Readers will note the introduction of a new wine, the Park Avenue Chardonnay, which emerges from a 12-acre parcel adjacent to Lauren that was planted six years ago.