History
Mark and Teresa Aubert converted the aging orchard on the ridgetop around 1999 and 2000 and named the vineyard for their daughter Lauren. Its Estate Chardonnay became the label's flagship and one of California's cult whites, with 100-point scores for the 2017, 2018 and 2021 from The Wine Advocate.
The Site
Eight acres on a gentle ridgetop south of the Russian River in Forestville's golden hills, on gravelly Goldridge soils that hold water well and, in the winery's words, add purity and perfume. CIX, the old parcel 109, adjoins across the eastern fence line on startlingly different sea-salt-white ground.
Vines and Blocks
Four Chardonnay clones at 1,400 vines per acre: Old Wente, Villa Mt. Eden, Hudson and a Corton-Charlemagne selection that is always picked last for its acidity.
The Wines
The Lauren Estate Chardonnay is typically the most concentrated wine in the Aubert range, opulent, exotic and mineral-backed, a sliver of the label's roughly 4,000 annual cases and among the hardest allocations in American Chardonnay.