2017 Aubert - Chardonnay Napa Sugar Shack Estate (750ml)

Mark Aubert learned his craft in Napa Valley. His first winery job was as an enologist at Rutherford Hill. As assistant winemaker at Monticello Vineyards, he made the winery’s first lees-stirred Chardonnay in 1988. A year later Helen Turley hired him at Peter Michael, where he became head winemaker by age 28. In 1999 he and his wife Teresa started Aubert. Their first release was a 2000 single-vineyard Chardonnay, and the first Aubert Pinot Noir followed in 2002.

Sugar Shack is Aubert’s seven-acre estate vineyard in the northwest corner of Napa’s Rutherford appellation. It was planted to the Montrachet clone of Chardonnay by viticulturist David Abreu. Because Sugar Shack ripens earliest of all the Aubert sites, the 2017 crop was picked in late August, before the record Labor Day heat wave. Even in that warm, dry year, Aubert’s 2017 Chardonnays came out lower in alcohol and pH and higher in acidity than usual. As with all Aubert wines, it was made with minimal intervention and may show a slight natural haze.

The 2017 opens with green apple, lemon tart, lime, and exotic citrus oils, along with salted caramel, pecan pie, and honeysuckle. Rich and full-bodied, the palate layers preserved pineapple and stone fruit with savory notes of cashew, coriander, and anise. The texture is dense and satiny, and the finish is long and decadent. It is drinking beautifully now, and the winery suggests it will hold for about a decade. Pair it with butter-poached halibut, crab gratin, or a veal chop with morels.