Aubert Wines

Mark Aubert's California winemaking career began at Peter Michael Winery in 1989, where Helen Turley brought him on to help build the cellar program. Six months later Turley left to take charge of winemaking at Colgin Cellars, leaving Aubert, then 28, running one of Napa and Sonoma's most ambitious projects. He carried Turley's playbook (low yields, optimally ripe fruit, neutral-style barrel work, terroir-driven blending) through subsequent stints at Colgin, Sloan, Futo, and Bryant Family before founding Aubert Wines with his wife Teresa in 1999. The first commercial vintage was 2000, debuting with a single-vineyard Chardonnay from Ritchie Vineyard in the Russian River Valley. From that opening release the project was framed as a single-vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir house built on a small number of named California sites, distributed primarily through a mailing list rather than the open market.

• Mark Aubert began at Peter Michael Winery in 1989 under Helen Turley; later made wine at Colgin Cellars, Sloan, Futo, and Bryant Family
• Founded Aubert Wines with wife Teresa in 1999; first vintage 2000 with a Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay
• Built the project around Turley's low-yield, terroir-driven model and single-vineyard releases
• Mailing-list-driven distribution model established at launch and maintained today

Aubert Wines remains a first-generation operation, with Mark and Teresa Aubert running the business directly. Mark handles winemaking decisions; Teresa runs business operations. Philip Gift serves as Estate Director. In 2010 the Auberts acquired and remodeled the former August Briggs Winery on a 2-acre Calistoga site as the primary production facility; in 2025 they added a second 2.25-acre Calistoga production space at the former Brian Arden property, taking on the winery but not the Brian Arden brand. Wines move exclusively through a mailing list and a small number of restaurant placements, a deliberate channel choice that matches the small production volumes and the high critical scores the label has compiled across the past two decades.

• Mark and Teresa Aubert remain proprietors; Mark in the cellar, Teresa on the business side; Philip Gift serves as Estate Director
• Primary production at the remodeled former August Briggs Winery (2 acres, Calistoga), acquired in 2010
• Second production site added in 2025 at the former Brian Arden winery (2.25 acres, Calistoga); only the facility was acquired, not the Brian Arden brand
• Wines sold exclusively through a mailing list and select restaurant placements

Aubert sources from five owned estate vineyards and three contracted sites, spanning four AVAs. The founding estate is Lauren Vineyard (3.2 hectares, planted 1999, named after the Auberts' daughter); the Sonoma Coast portfolio also includes CIX Estate (planted in white calcareous soils that name the eponymous Chardonnay), Park Avenue Estate (purchased 2013, sitting between Lauren and CIX), Powder House, and the UV and UV-SL Vineyards named for the late grower Ulises Valdez, who planted UV in 2001 on clay-and-sand soils near Sebastopol. In Napa Valley the Sugar Shack Vineyard in Rutherford is planted to the Montrachet Chardonnay clone. Contracted fruit comes from Larry Hyde and Sons in Carneros and Eastside Vineyard in the Russian River Valley, with the Hudson Vineyard Chardonnay returning to the lineup with the 2023 vintage.

• Lauren Vineyard (3.2 hectares, planted 1999) is the founding estate and the namesake of the flagship Chardonnay
• CIX, Park Avenue, Powder House, UV, and UV-SL are the Sonoma Coast estate sites; UV planted by Ulises Valdez in 2001
• Sugar Shack Vineyard in Rutherford, Napa Valley, planted to the Montrachet Chardonnay clone
• Contracted fruit comes from Larry Hyde and Sons in Carneros and Eastside Vineyard in Russian River Valley; Hudson Vineyard returned with the 2023 vintage

The Aubert house style is unambiguous: every bottling is 100 percent barrel-fermented and aged predominantly in new French oak, with alcohol typically around 15 percent. This is rich, opulent California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir executed at a high technical level, leaning into textural density and site-to-site distinction rather than restraint. Mark Aubert has described the 2023 Chardonnays as some of the best he has ever made, a view echoed in the critical reception for the 2024 vintage. Starting with the 2022 vintage, Pinot Noir releases moved into a glass bottle 30 percent lighter than the prior packaging, a sustainability measure that reduces the label's carbon footprint without altering winemaking protocols. Production volumes remain steady at roughly 10,000 cases per year, weighted heavily toward Chardonnay.

• Every wine is 100 percent barrel-fermented and aged predominantly in new French oak
• Alcohol typically around 15 percent, reflecting the full-bodied, texturally dense house style
• Mark Aubert described the 2023 Chardonnays as some of the best he has produced; the 2024 vintage was met with similar critical reception
• From 2022 Pinot Noir is bottled in glass 30 percent lighter than the prior packaging, reducing carbon footprint

Aubert Wines sits at the apex of California's single-vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir conversation. The Aubert UV Vineyard Pinot Noir from the 2018 vintage was ranked number two on Wine Spectator's 2020 Top 100 list, the highest placement for any California Pinot on that list. The 2024 Chardonnay range delivered some of the most cited recent scores: the Larry Hyde and Sons Vineyard at 98 points, the CIX Estate Vineyard scoring at the same 98-point tier, the Lauren Estate Vineyard reaching as high as 99 points, with the broader range running 94 to 98 across the cellar. The mailing-list-only distribution concentrates demand inside a community of engaged collectors and restaurants. For students of California fine wine, Aubert illustrates how a first-generation house, working from a 1999 standing start with technique gained in elite cellars, can build a benchmark single-vineyard program inside a single generation.

• 2018 vintage UV Vineyard Pinot Noir ranked number two on Wine Spectator's 2020 Top 100 list
• 2024 Larry Hyde and Sons Chardonnay rated 98 points; 2024 CIX Estate Chardonnay at the 98-point tier; 2024 Lauren Estate Vineyard rated as high as 99 points
• Mailing-list-only distribution concentrates demand among collectors and a small set of restaurants
• First-generation house that built a benchmark single-vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir position from a 1999 standing start