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2004 Aubert Wines Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard Sonoma Coast
Producer: Aubert Wines
Style: White Wine
Grape Type: Chardonnay
Origin: California
Region: Sonoma
95 Points | International Wine Cellar , May/June 2006
($65; 15.6% alcohol; 100% new oak) Slightly hazy appearance. Musky, highly complex aromas of crystallized lemon peel, pineapple and smoke. Fat and sweet but shapely, with wonderfully tactile flavors of pineapple, grapefruit and minerals. As round and seamlessly sweet as this is, there's a restraint to the fruit thanks to its terrific acid/alcohol balance. Finishes chewy and gripping, with powerful ripe fruit flavors. This is from a '71 planting; perhaps due to the age of the vines, the crop level here was a fairly normal 2.5 tons per acre, while Aubert's other three chardonnays, from younger vines, were in the 1 to 1.5 ton range. This vineyard was harvested last, in mid-September, after the extended heat wave subsided.
