WWC - NJH1122 (Fort Worth Club): Tasted blind - beautiful gold in the glass; slightly cloudy; amazing nose of honey and caramel, with more similar flavors on the palate; slight citrus undertones. Called a 2009 Pahlmeyer chardonnay, after thinking it could be an older Aubert...Great fun to taste this, and it was delicious, and learning that it was made only from 2001 - 2005, and in 2014.
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It is hard to say when an Aubert Chardonnay reaches its peak. I last had a 2004 Lauren in 2017 and it was outstanding. This was even better. Tremendous depth! A fruit driven wine with that chest-filling characteristic that appears in the best, properly aged, Chardonnay, but that I have never been able to describe. No oak and no butter! The fruit is white fruit predominantly apple, but the flavors are so perfectly integrated that it is hard to point to any one flavor as dominating or sticking out. It is a seamless whole in which the parts are not separately evident.
I had a Jadot and a Louis Latour Le Montrachet at the Inaugural Heritage Auctions blind tasting national championships and and they were excellent, but this was in that league. The only white that I recall being better was a Guigal Ex Voto that was ex chateau and brought to a dinner by Francois Mauss about 18 years ago. However, I had been drinking all night before I tasted that and this Aubert was after only one glass of 2004 Alban Reva, so my memory of the Guigal is questionable.
I remember that I bought this as part of my first allocation because everyone was going crazy about Aubert pinot noir and the common belief was that you had to buy the Chardonnay for a couple of years before you were offered the pinot noir. I am very glad that there was that common belief, whether true or not, because I bought a lot of the Chardonnay and I believe that it is the best version of such grape made in the United States. Some people argue for Marcassin, which I have only had a few times, but they have never seemed better to me. Kongsgaard is too oxidative for me and I have had an outstanding bottle of Morlet Chardonnay Coup de Coeur, but if I could only drink one producer of Cali Chardonnay for the rest of my life, Aubert woud be at the top of my list.
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Winefool Going Away Party and Cellar Depletion (Jack's Bistro - Chicago IL): Tasted 2 days ago, note from memory. Still very alive, and even still very exciting in an old-Chard manner. Mature apple and candied apple with spice and earth and still enough structure for brightness. Probably better a few years back, but holding up very well.
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Still in amazing shape but it takes a while to get there. Pear, slate, apricot, a hint of tannins still, and virtually no signs of butterscotch that I’ve come to dread on older CA Chards.
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A small gathering at Jailbreak Brewing Co. (Jailbreak Brewery, Laurel, MD): Medium expressive nose displaying very ripe concentrated yellow fruit, dry peach, pineapple, lemon curd, caramel, toasted oak and earth. 10W40, rich, warm, oily and concentrated, bright acidity, medium mineral and a medium to long ripe yellow fruit driven finish. It has the viscosity of TBA. I find it interesting and enjoyable. Abomination if you are an AFWE.
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HDH auction tasting at Tru; 5/15/2015-5/16/2015 (Chicago, IL): My initial reaction was: "this is not chardonnay." A big dose of candied pineapple and some high-toned lemon notes on the nose. The palate is quite fat but has surprising acidity (which I liked), but the finish is completely destroyed by persistent oak and heat.
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Lost in the cellar. Ten years old but still all there.Solidly in the Aubert style. Slightly cloudy gold in the glass. The nose is calm, more rind than fruit. Plenty of muted citrus on the palate, but the acidity and the fruit linger almost unendingly on the finish. Not fading--rather improving with aeration.
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Pale yellow. Nose was shy, hints of vanilla and lemon, but initially served WAY too cold-this again needs airing and red wine temps for serving IMO. After warming, so hints of butterscotch came around. But overal the nose disappointed. The taste was on the acidic side, lemon and oak. My dining companian who is the antithesis of a wine geek said "It seems like it's monolithic(!) This was found in the cellar and I usually don't let the Cal Chards age this long and this did little to change my mind.
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our last bottle of 04 from any vineyard, and of course, it's the best performance from this vineyard ever. go figure. expressive, spices with a little back end bite, perfect balance, voluptuous. i know the last descriptor can mean to some people that the wine is a butter bomb, or too overtly oaked. i mean voluptuous to convey a wine of great complexity and design. R.I.P. 04 aubert chard vintage, it was a great run.
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pale gold. Nose was initially oak and acid-but too cold temp. With warming and airing smooth vanilla, citrus (lemonaid) and cloves. Taste was-at the red wine bottle serving temperatue-smooth, mouthfilling, lemoncurd and vanilla with lemonaid acid on the end. Still drinking very well, but it really shows that serving temperature makes a BIG difference with this producer.
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Impromptu Calera Night: No notes taken as I was working on dinner. Popped and poured at the last minute. Pure gold color. Awesome nose dominated by honeyed lemon aromas. Full-bodied in the mouth and feels a bit fatter than even the Girardin. Great flavor intensity, excellent balance and surprising complexity. An excellent bottle of wine, and the only one finished the first evening (so no retaste on Monday).
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My last bottle, and it shows just how well this wine can age in the near term. After 6 years, the wine was more aromatic, more complex than it was on release. Honey, white floral notes, minerality and lightly roasted nuts. Beautiful finish.
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Surprisingly uncloudy bottle. Clear, but nevertheless has legs to coat a glass and to fill the mouth with pineapple, melon and vanilla. A superb complement to fresh caught salmon; a very poor match for Delice de Bourgogne cheese. This is ready to drink now---I have two more bottles which will be be gone by next March.
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Delicious, rich, full-bodied citrus fruit with nutmeg and vanillin flavors, good acid, superb texture, fruit had waned a bit, wine maybe slightly past its prime
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Light oak and lime on the nose. Full in the mouth with lemon lime notes. Good balancing acidity. Long finish. I think it'll be even better in another year or two.
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Gold in color, this was very nice with notes of pineapple, minerals, and honey. The oak, was a bit high, and the body on the larger side. It was missing a bit of the verve of other Auberts and may be sliding from its peak. The wine is very good, but not as special as other bottlings.
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i'd been putzing around the kitchen, finishing the ubiquitous clean up, and composing this TN in my head. creamy, not very focused, moderate oak, very rounded, lacks acid, some might even say a bit tubby in the midpalate. then i clicked in and on, and saw my note from 6 months ago. lots of similarities, and that always makes me laugh, but i guess it also validates. except...i left out my final thought: somehow the wine works in a sort of weird kind of way. it's far from my favorite aubert, and i also wonder if i've held the wine too long (i like to drink my calichards at age five). i need to review all my notes on 04 aubert.
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Opened and served immediately. Yellow color in the glass, cloudy throughout. Nose of pears, nutmeg, spices and a dash of florals. Rich flavors of pears, nutmeg and baked yellow apples. Medium acidity, full bodied. Drink or hold.
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Hazy golden hue in the glass. Somewhat restrained on the nose but huge on the palate with lemon and other citrus followed by a spicy vanillin quality that is quite unusual. The acid on this must be quite high as despite the size of the wine it was not at all "fat"; this also despite the high alcohol. This would rate higher if it had more richnes/texture on the palate. Very good but not at the top in my experience.
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golden yellow. Smoother and more mellow in the nose and mouth. Nose had some hazelnut hints along with cloves and cinnamon. Taste was more citric than the nose. Beautiful!
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Aubert Tasting and Dinner (My home - Chicago IL): Slightly tropical fruit aromas. similar on palate, but it transitions from middle to end to leaner flavors of lemon and lime, where it also shows good minerality and acidity to moderately long finish.
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Cloudy greenish color. Pretty nose of limestone rock and lemons. Beautifully round with a big, oily texture with big and spicy pear and lemon fruit. Finishes extraordinarily complex for a Cali Chard with lots of rocky minerals. Beat out the '03 Kistler Kistler because of its balance and complexity. Lovely and perhaps Aubert's best and most elegant bottling and it"s quite a shame that they won't be making it anymore. That being said, these wines are not for aging and this should be drunk now.
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Cult-ish US Pinots at Ox (Jersey City): This was great chardonnay. It was a cloudy gold color at first. I got all kinds of flavors that no one else got - buttery popcorn right out of the bottle, then sweet bacon. I was all by myself on these scents, but I think most all of us liked this wine.
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Cult-ish Pinots (Ox Restaurant, Jersey City, NJ): Only my second experience with an Aubert chardonnay, and it was great. Very young, mouthwatering, unbuttered popcorn. So many flavors exploding in the mouth that I couldn't describe or pick out. Hold 6 months+.
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Blah Blah Blah, I agree. Probably one of the greatest chardonnays in California. It is losing some of the creamyness and up front oak that it had when new, which is allowing more of the other flavors to emerge. White fruits with a bit of apple, white peach and chardonnay grape. As the cream recedes, there's more apparent acid to balance the rest of the wine. This has more minerals than the Lauren. Maybe that's because it's "The Quarry" vineyard. There's also roasted pecans and cashews, a bit of fresh vanilla. The cloudiness that was there when first shipped has also gotten lost at the bottom of the bottle. I did not notice it until I gave the last little bit to the manager at Mortons after it had been sitting in the ice bucket for 2 hours. This wine is better when served in the 45-50 degree range. I dropped it off at Mortons the night before and they put it in the refrigerator at about 4:00. By 7:30 it was too cold, so we let it warm up on the table and drank it, after which we put it in the bucket with two ounces left just to clear off the table.
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Yellow. Not cloudy. Taste was a little too cold, but what impressed me is how alcoholic to came off. But with "warming" up, it mellowed out. This reconfirmed to me that higher end Chards from Cal need to be served at red wine temperature. Nose was citrus, lemon curd. Overall, when warmed up, it tasted great. But it took a little time to get there.
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Tasting Group Dinner - Domestic Pinot Noir (Zelo, Minneapolis): Intense pineapple, spicy pear, tropical fruit, and honey. Ultra-ripe and sweet. Very creamy, weighty, lush mouthfeel. Lots of vanilla/oak. Very long finish. Full-throttle, hedonistic, and tasty, if you're in the mood for this style.
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Richer than the '03 Ritchie I tried a few months ago. Seems a bit more Californian than the Ritchie too -- similar citrus, lemon profile but also showed some subtle oaky, buttery notes. Flavors were similar although the wine was probably a bit young -- I generally like them young but I think the acidity here was still quite high.
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Quite good and blousey, but reserved - could use a bit more time, unlike the 2004 Ritchie and Lauren which have seemed open for business. Opens a bit with some time in the glass. Save this one for a few years, near the end of the 2004 Aubert's.
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Really a stellar showing...with creamy lemon curd and vanilla oak flavors. Beautiful balance, perfect acidity (for a rich CA Chard), and a real pleasure to drink. With this balance, I would think this would age and improve for several years, but it sure is fantastic now. Seems just as good as the other Auberts in this vintage. Could use some complexity which may come with age.
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Superb wine. A bit of sediment. Outstanding fruit, wonderful nose, complexity on the nose and palate. Not as large scaled as some other big Calif. chards. Shows the elegance and restraint of white Burgundy
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Slightly cloudy with a greenish tint. A good to potentially great chardonnay. Unfortunately you wouldn't want to be operating any heavy machinery after drinking this wine. It had amazingly concentrated flavors but way too much alcohol. The interesting part is that the wine is balanced and we drank a bit before the alcohol presented itself. It was a beautiful chard with very fine minerality and acidity.
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WIML92. Good to very good wine as always. Goldish color in the glass and definitely unfiltered! Big nose and palate of vanilla, citrus fruits, etc… I’d let sit another 6 months myself. Should drink well for 5 years fairly easily.
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Simply wonderful! Lemon pie, orange rind, mellow yellow nose with a creamy viscous mouthfeel and great flavors of sweet tropical fruits with balanced acidity/minerality. It was on my top three WOTY last year and I know why..... Simply Delish!!
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Best showing of any Quarry bottling. Boy these 04s are a universal step up for Aubert I must say. Cliche, but there is more minerality here than the other bottlings, but much less than the 2003. Nice balanced honeysuckle with light tropical flair. Typical cloudy presentation. Light citrus and elegant mouthfeel presentation.
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Leaner style with good fresh acidity. Finishes with finely concentrated lemon and limestone flavors. Still young but beautifully balanced. Has the texture of a white Burgundy combined with California fruit. Delicious.
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throwing tons of sediment. the whole side-down side of the bottle was caked with deposits. a fair amount got in the glass with no noticable effect on the taste whatsoever.
clear yellow, ... Citrusy with some acid zing and creamy richness. after a 4 hours smelled like a lemon drop but had caramel and zing to the lemon flavor. Very nice
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I love these wines. This one showed a bit cloudy, but clearing up compared to some of the other '04s just after release. Yellow color, with a hint of green. The nose showed petrol and wax, with a bit of fruit underlying. On the palate this wine showed sweet lemon cream, a hint of tropical fruit, lots of viscosity and acid to back up the lush fruit. There's also a sense of chalk-covered gravel - no, I've not actually such a thing, but the flavors remind me of a gravel road behind our house when I was growing up. Go figure :-) This seemed to have a bit less complexity than other Aubert Chardonnays, resulting in a couple points less than I would've expected.
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Very interesting stuff. Pale and slightly hazy in the Aubert signature look. For a brief moment, there was a blast of tropical fruit salad, which then quickily morphed into a lemon custard and rock ("quarry") profile. In the mouth, firm, moderately intense, excellent but not excessive acidity and decent length. Held very well in the glass. Reaches my outstanding range, just not complex enough for more.
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Took to a small dinner party and all including myself says exceptional calif chard: some dictinctly interseting citrus notes will drink more aubert in future
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Just a really nice Calif Chardonnay. For me, on the 'less buttery, less oaky' side. I'm a fan, and I'd put this bottling in the top of the Calif Chardonnay heirarchy, along with Peter Michael, Kistler, etc.
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2/7/2024 - Gregmonroe wrote:
WWC - NJH1122 (Fort Worth Club): Tasted blind - beautiful gold in the glass; slightly cloudy; amazing nose of honey and caramel, with more similar flavors on the palate; slight citrus undertones. Called a 2009 Pahlmeyer chardonnay, after thinking it could be an older Aubert...Great fun to taste this, and it was delicious, and learning that it was made only from 2001 - 2005, and in 2014.
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9/23/2023 - J @ y H @ c k wrote: 97 Points
It is hard to say when an Aubert Chardonnay reaches its peak. I last had a 2004 Lauren in 2017 and it was outstanding. This was even better. Tremendous depth! A fruit driven wine with that chest-filling characteristic that appears in the best, properly aged, Chardonnay, but that I have never been able to describe. No oak and no butter! The fruit is white fruit predominantly apple, but the flavors are so perfectly integrated that it is hard to point to any one flavor as dominating or sticking out. It is a seamless whole in which the parts are not separately evident.
I had a Jadot and a Louis Latour Le Montrachet at the Inaugural Heritage Auctions blind tasting national championships and and they were excellent, but this was in that league. The only white that I recall being better was a Guigal Ex Voto that was ex chateau and brought to a dinner by Francois Mauss about 18 years ago. However, I had been drinking all night before I tasted that and this Aubert was after only one glass of 2004 Alban Reva, so my memory of the Guigal is questionable.
I remember that I bought this as part of my first allocation because everyone was going crazy about Aubert pinot noir and the common belief was that you had to buy the Chardonnay for a couple of years before you were offered the pinot noir. I am very glad that there was that common belief, whether true or not, because I bought a lot of the Chardonnay and I believe that it is the best version of such grape made in the United States. Some people argue for Marcassin, which I have only had a few times, but they have never seemed better to me. Kongsgaard is too oxidative for me and I have had an outstanding bottle of Morlet Chardonnay Coup de Coeur, but if I could only drink one producer of Cali Chardonnay for the rest of my life, Aubert woud be at the top of my list.
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8/26/2023 - Burgundy Al wrote: 92 Points
Winefool Going Away Party and Cellar Depletion (Jack's Bistro - Chicago IL): Tasted 2 days ago, note from memory. Still very alive, and even still very exciting in an old-Chard manner. Mature apple and candied apple with spice and earth and still enough structure for brightness. Probably better a few years back, but holding up very well.
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11/25/2020 - mdgberg Likes this wine: 94 Points
Still in amazing shape but it takes a while to get there. Pear, slate, apricot, a hint of tannins still, and virtually no signs of butterscotch that I’ve come to dread on older CA Chards.
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8/13/2020 - dcwino wrote: 93 Points
A small gathering at Jailbreak Brewing Co. (Jailbreak Brewery, Laurel, MD): Medium expressive nose displaying very ripe concentrated yellow fruit, dry peach, pineapple, lemon curd, caramel, toasted oak and earth. 10W40, rich, warm, oily and concentrated, bright acidity, medium mineral and a medium to long ripe yellow fruit driven finish. It has the viscosity of TBA. I find it interesting and enjoyable. Abomination if you are an AFWE.
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5/22/2015 - Sennma wrote: 83 Points
candied pineapple warm and ripe on the nose...lots of sour fruits on the palate...finished with a good deal of heat and wood.
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5/15/2015 - acyso wrote: 80 Points
HDH auction tasting at Tru; 5/15/2015-5/16/2015 (Chicago, IL): My initial reaction was: "this is not chardonnay." A big dose of candied pineapple and some high-toned lemon notes on the nose. The palate is quite fat but has surprising acidity (which I liked), but the finish is completely destroyed by persistent oak and heat.
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8/13/2014 - jbro Likes this wine: 94 Points
Lost in the cellar. Ten years old but still all there.Solidly in the Aubert style. Slightly cloudy gold in the glass. The nose is calm, more rind than fruit. Plenty of muted citrus on the palate, but the acidity and the fruit linger almost unendingly on the finish. Not fading--rather improving with aeration.
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5/12/2012 - EMichels wrote: 89 Points
Very woody; Rich; Thick
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12/16/2011 - jbaron wrote: 92 Points
Four years on. Reticent nose, big blousey mouth, very nice length. Huge wine that is too big for its good - almost. A nice find.
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9/4/2011 - Harry Cantrell wrote: 86 Points
Pale yellow. Nose was shy, hints of vanilla and lemon, but initially served WAY too cold-this again needs airing and red wine temps for serving IMO. After warming, so hints of butterscotch came around. But overal the nose disappointed. The taste was on the acidic side, lemon and oak. My dining companian who is the antithesis of a wine geek said "It seems like it's monolithic(!) This was found in the cellar and I usually don't let the Cal Chards age this long and this did little to change my mind.
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8/27/2011 - jeff nowak wrote: 94 Points
our last bottle of 04 from any vineyard, and of course, it's the best performance from this vineyard ever. go figure. expressive, spices with a little back end bite, perfect balance, voluptuous. i know the last descriptor can mean to some people that the wine is a butter bomb, or too overtly oaked. i mean voluptuous to convey a wine of great complexity and design. R.I.P. 04 aubert chard vintage, it was a great run.
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4/2/2011 - Harry Cantrell wrote: 93 Points
pale gold. Nose was initially oak and acid-but too cold temp. With warming and airing smooth vanilla, citrus (lemonaid) and cloves. Taste was-at the red wine bottle serving temperatue-smooth, mouthfilling, lemoncurd and vanilla with lemonaid acid on the end. Still drinking very well, but it really shows that serving temperature makes a BIG difference with this producer.
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1/16/2011 - llink wrote: flawed
Deep golden color. Premoxed, sherry and butterscotch nose, flat palate. So, so disappointing!
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9/3/2010 - ASG24 wrote: flawed
Corked, very disappointing.
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6/6/2010 - Dave Dalluge wrote: 92 Points
Impromptu Calera Night: No notes taken as I was working on dinner. Popped and poured at the last minute. Pure gold color. Awesome nose dominated by honeyed lemon aromas. Full-bodied in the mouth and feels a bit fatter than even the Girardin. Great flavor intensity, excellent balance and surprising complexity. An excellent bottle of wine, and the only one finished the first evening (so no retaste on Monday).
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4/18/2010 - SteveHyde wrote:
My last bottle, and it shows just how well this wine can age in the near term. After 6 years, the wine was more aromatic, more complex than it was on release. Honey, white floral notes, minerality and lightly roasted nuts. Beautiful finish.
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12/4/2009 - crdwino wrote: 96 Points
nice long finish. little butterscotch, vanilla on the nose. this freakin' rocks.
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9/12/2009 - jeff nowak wrote: 93 Points
best performance in recent memory. well integrated acid and oak tamed.
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9/2/2009 - jbro wrote: 93 Points
Surprisingly uncloudy bottle. Clear, but nevertheless has legs to coat a glass and to fill the mouth with pineapple, melon and vanilla. A superb complement to fresh caught salmon; a very poor match for Delice de Bourgogne cheese. This is ready to drink now---I have two more bottles which will be be gone by next March.
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8/29/2009 - Amerique wrote: 93 Points
Delicious, rich, full-bodied citrus fruit with nutmeg and vanillin flavors, good acid, superb texture, fruit had waned a bit, wine maybe slightly past its prime
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7/22/2009 - pismo45 wrote: 92 Points
Light oak and lime on the nose. Full in the mouth with lemon lime notes. Good balancing acidity. Long finish. I think it'll be even better in another year or two.
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7/6/2009 - mebydef wrote: 93 Points
Gold in color, this was very nice with notes of pineapple, minerals, and honey. The oak, was a bit high, and the body on the larger side. It was missing a bit of the verve of other Auberts and may be sliding from its peak. The wine is very good, but not as special as other bottlings.
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6/26/2009 - jeff nowak wrote: 90 Points
i'd been putzing around the kitchen, finishing the ubiquitous clean up, and composing this TN in my head. creamy, not very focused, moderate oak, very rounded, lacks acid, some might even say a bit tubby in the midpalate. then i clicked in and on, and saw my note from 6 months ago. lots of similarities, and that always makes me laugh, but i guess it also validates. except...i left out my final thought: somehow the wine works in a sort of weird kind of way. it's far from my favorite aubert, and i also wonder if i've held the wine too long (i like to drink my calichards at age five). i need to review all my notes on 04 aubert.
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4/24/2009 - wineismylife wrote: 93 Points
Wine Berserkers - Dallas - Friday night is Fish night... (Citrus Bistro, Dallas, TX): WIML93
Tasted April 24,. 2009 at an offline.
Opened and served immediately. Yellow color in the glass, cloudy throughout. Nose of pears, nutmeg, spices and a dash of florals. Rich flavors of pears, nutmeg and baked yellow apples. Medium acidity, full bodied. Drink or hold.
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12/23/2008 - jeff nowak wrote: 91 Points
hmmm. not my usual aubert epiphany, and i prefer the peter michael version. a little too creamy/oaky, lacking the crispness and minerality i expect.
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11/15/2008 - Alex G. wrote:
Nice fruit but showing some heat, not the best showing for this wine. B-
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11/15/2008 - rosenst1 wrote: 91 Points
Hazy golden hue in the glass. Somewhat restrained on the nose but huge on the palate
with lemon and other citrus followed by a spicy vanillin quality that is quite unusual.
The acid on this must be quite high as despite the size of the wine it was not at all "fat";
this also despite the high alcohol. This would rate higher if it had more richnes/texture
on the palate. Very good but not at the top in my experience.
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10/25/2008 - Harry Cantrell wrote: 95 Points
golden yellow. Smoother and more mellow in the nose and mouth. Nose had some hazelnut hints along with cloves and cinnamon. Taste was more citric than the nose. Beautiful!
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9/2/2008 - Burgundy Al wrote: 92 Points
Aubert Tasting and Dinner (My home - Chicago IL): Slightly tropical fruit aromas. similar on palate, but it transitions from middle to end to leaner flavors of lemon and lime, where it also shows good minerality and acidity to moderately long finish.
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9/2/2008 - winefool wrote: 93 Points
Aubert Tasting (Alan's): Medium full yellow green color. Subtle nose with slight green tropical note. Big rich oaky sweet yellow fruit on the palate.
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9/2/2008 - Nanda wrote: 92 Points
Burgundy Al's Aubert Dinner - Near Complete Vertical / Horizontal (Chicago, IL): Full nose of pineapple, cream and limes. Round and polished palate. Bright acidity provides lift into a long lemon-lime finish.
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8/24/2008 - sstoloff wrote: 94 Points
Dramatic chard, some fat, vanilla, oak, but a strong mineral core, smoke, bacon, apricot. Wowed the table.
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8/8/2008 - dream wrote: 93 Points
Cloudy greenish color. Pretty nose of limestone rock and lemons. Beautifully round with a big, oily texture with big and spicy pear and lemon fruit. Finishes extraordinarily complex for a Cali Chard with lots of rocky minerals. Beat out the '03 Kistler Kistler because of its balance and complexity. Lovely and perhaps Aubert's best and most elegant bottling and it"s quite a shame that they won't be making it anymore. That being said, these wines are not for aging and this should be drunk now.
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6/14/2008 - Chet wrote:
Great Wine.
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4/22/2008 - Cheryl wrote:
Cult-ish US Pinots at Ox (Jersey City): This was great chardonnay. It was a cloudy gold color at first. I got all kinds of flavors that no one else got - buttery popcorn right out of the bottle, then sweet bacon. I was all by myself on these scents, but I think most all of us liked this wine.
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4/22/2008 - sprnplr wrote: 93 Points
Cult-ish Pinots (Ox Restaurant, Jersey City, NJ): Only my second experience with an Aubert chardonnay, and it was great. Very young, mouthwatering, unbuttered popcorn. So many flavors exploding in the mouth that I couldn't describe or pick out. Hold 6 months+.
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4/6/2008 - simba-mk@cox.net wrote: 95 Points
Incredible-finish is ethereal-goes on and on
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2/16/2008 - J @ y H @ c k wrote: 94 Points
Blah Blah Blah, I agree. Probably one of the greatest chardonnays in California. It is losing some of the creamyness and up front oak that it had when new, which is allowing more of the other flavors to emerge. White fruits with a bit of apple, white peach and chardonnay grape. As the cream recedes, there's more apparent acid to balance the rest of the wine. This has more minerals than the Lauren. Maybe that's because it's "The Quarry" vineyard. There's also roasted pecans and cashews, a bit of fresh vanilla. The cloudiness that was there when first shipped has also gotten lost at the bottom of the bottle. I did not notice it until I gave the last little bit to the manager at Mortons after it had been sitting in the ice bucket for 2 hours. This wine is better when served in the 45-50 degree range. I dropped it off at Mortons the night before and they put it in the refrigerator at about 4:00. By 7:30 it was too cold, so we let it warm up on the table and drank it, after which we put it in the bucket with two ounces left just to clear off the table.
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2/15/2008 - Harry Cantrell wrote: 92 Points
Yellow. Not cloudy. Taste was a little too cold, but what impressed me is how alcoholic to came off. But with "warming" up, it mellowed out. This reconfirmed to me that higher end Chards from Cal need to be served at red wine temperature. Nose was citrus, lemon curd. Overall, when warmed up, it tasted great. But it took a little time to get there.
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1/20/2008 - Siggy wrote: 91 Points
Tasting Group Dinner - Domestic Pinot Noir (Zelo, Minneapolis): Intense pineapple, spicy pear, tropical fruit, and honey. Ultra-ripe and sweet. Very creamy, weighty, lush mouthfeel. Lots of vanilla/oak. Very long finish. Full-throttle, hedonistic, and tasty, if you're in the mood for this style.
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12/17/2007 - Winetex wrote: 93 Points
Notes similar to previous bottle. This bottle was much more cloudy. This bottle had a very long finish more tropical in nature than the first bottle.
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12/3/2007 - kstoddard wrote: 90 Points
G7 (Alex): Tastes of pears and pineapple. Rich and elegant. Nice length in the finish with some tartness in the end.
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12/2/2007 - budman wrote: 94 Points
Awesome experience. Cloudy, with complex nose and palate.
I wish I had more of these!!!
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11/3/2007 - olm2000 wrote: 95 Points
great chard...balance and concentration very impressive
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9/16/2007 - zazoo wrote: 90 Points
ok , not as good as the hype
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8/31/2007 - SUN-J wrote: 93 Points
Richer than the '03 Ritchie I tried a few months ago. Seems a bit more Californian than the Ritchie too -- similar citrus, lemon profile but also showed some subtle oaky, buttery notes. Flavors were similar although the wine was probably a bit young -- I generally like them young but I think the acidity here was still quite high.
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8/25/2007 - jbaron wrote: 93 Points
Quite good and blousey, but reserved - could use a bit more time, unlike the 2004 Ritchie and Lauren which have seemed open for business. Opens a bit with some time in the glass.
Save this one for a few years, near the end of the 2004 Aubert's.
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7/28/2007 - ginfizz wrote: 95 Points
Lovely...just head and shoulders above the rest...
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7/3/2007 - ginfizz wrote: 96 Points
Really a stellar showing...with creamy lemon curd and vanilla oak flavors. Beautiful balance, perfect acidity (for a rich CA Chard), and a real pleasure to drink. With this balance, I would think this would age and improve for several years, but it sure is fantastic now. Seems just as good as the other Auberts in this vintage. Could use some complexity which may come with age.
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4/18/2007 - conadoc wrote: 96 Points
Superb wine. A bit of sediment. Outstanding fruit, wonderful nose, complexity on the nose and palate. Not as large scaled as some other big Calif. chards. Shows the elegance and restraint of white Burgundy
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4/9/2007 - Winetex wrote: 93 Points
Slightly cloudy with a greenish tint. A good to potentially great chardonnay. Unfortunately you wouldn't want to be operating any heavy machinery after drinking this wine. It had amazingly concentrated flavors but way too much alcohol. The interesting part is that the wine is balanced and we drank a bit before the alcohol presented itself. It was a beautiful chard with very fine minerality and acidity.
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4/8/2007 - JScott wrote: 92 Points
This is no wimpy Chardonnay. Really packed with intense flavor. Lemon first, then pineapple and a wave of minerality.
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3/31/2007 - WVWine wrote: 95 Points
Heaven in a bottle.
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3/28/2007 - wineismylife wrote: 92 Points
WIML92. Good to very good wine as always. Goldish color in the glass and definitely unfiltered! Big nose and palate of vanilla, citrus fruits, etc… I’d let sit another 6 months myself. Should drink well for 5 years fairly easily.
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3/1/2007 - Love4Vino wrote: 94 Points
Simply wonderful! Lemon pie, orange rind, mellow yellow nose with a creamy viscous mouthfeel and great flavors of sweet tropical fruits with balanced acidity/minerality. It was on my top three WOTY last year and I know why..... Simply Delish!!
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2/10/2007 - mattiasjansson wrote: 92 Points
The Wines of Mark Aubert (Pinot Provence, Costa Mesa, CA): A lot more minerals and higher acidity than the Ritchie and Lauren.
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2/10/2007 - Paul Lin wrote: 92 Points
The Wines of Mark Aubert (Pinot Provence, Costa Mesa, CA): Terrific balance between fruit and minerality. Both citrus and slate.
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1/25/2007 - Melli wrote: 93 Points
Delightful, balanced and bursting with fruit. Allso very cloudy.
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12/1/2006 - Hillbilly wrote: 94 Points
Best showing of any Quarry bottling. Boy these 04s are a universal step up for Aubert I must say. Cliche, but there is more minerality here than the other bottlings, but much less than the 2003. Nice balanced honeysuckle with light tropical flair. Typical cloudy presentation. Light citrus and elegant mouthfeel presentation.
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11/14/2006 - dream wrote: 92 Points
Leaner style with good fresh acidity. Finishes with finely concentrated lemon and limestone flavors. Still young but beautifully balanced. Has the texture of a white Burgundy combined with California fruit. Delicious.
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10/9/2006 - AlexRed wrote: 93 Points
throwing tons of sediment. the whole side-down side of the bottle was caked with deposits. a fair amount got in the glass with no noticable effect on the taste whatsoever.
clear yellow, ... Citrusy with some acid zing and creamy richness. after a 4 hours smelled like a lemon drop but had caramel and zing to the lemon flavor.
Very nice
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10/8/2006 - E wrote: 94 Points
Our first experience with this wine at seeger's at an offline in atlanta...showed slightly better than the ritchie
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9/19/2006 - MarkC wrote: 93 Points
I love these wines. This one showed a bit cloudy, but clearing up compared to some of the other '04s just after release. Yellow color, with a hint of green. The nose showed petrol and wax, with a bit of fruit underlying. On the palate this wine showed sweet lemon cream, a hint of tropical fruit, lots of viscosity and acid to back up the lush fruit. There's also a sense of chalk-covered gravel - no, I've not actually such a thing, but the flavors remind me of a gravel road behind our house when I was growing up. Go figure :-) This seemed to have a bit less complexity than other Aubert Chardonnays, resulting in a couple points less than I would've expected.
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7/7/2006 - sdr wrote: 90 Points
Very interesting stuff. Pale and slightly hazy in the Aubert signature look. For a brief moment, there was a blast of tropical fruit salad, which then quickily morphed into a lemon custard and rock ("quarry") profile. In the mouth, firm, moderately intense, excellent but not excessive acidity and decent length. Held very well in the glass. Reaches my outstanding range, just not complex enough for more.
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5/29/2006 - shemmy wrote: 92 Points
Fuller and a bit less crisp than the Reuling. I think I preferred that bottling slightly. Nevertheless, this is an excellent Aubert.
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5/26/2006 - pakabear wrote: 89 Points
Too acidic, throws off the balance!
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5/21/2006 - phcalvert wrote: 94 Points
Took to a small dinner party and all including myself says exceptional calif chard: some dictinctly interseting citrus notes will drink more aubert in future
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5/13/2006 - PeterH wrote: 93 Points
Just a really nice Calif Chardonnay. For me, on the 'less buttery, less oaky' side. I'm a fan, and I'd put this bottling in the top of the Calif Chardonnay heirarchy, along with Peter Michael, Kistler, etc.
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