Friggin' Aubert...it's just Chardonnay, right?

I couldn’t wait to get my meat hooks on a bottle or twelve of these. Fresh off the FedEx, bottle shock be damned…and I’m already 3 empty bottles deep into my stash. I’ve drank enough vintages of Mark Aubert’s Chardonnay to be convinced that vintage bares marginal importance on his wines quality, save for a wee bit of ’06 indigestion- or the home run to dead center in ’05 (as opposed to the right-center blast in ’07, but let’s put the tape measure away & squelch semantics). Screw the vintage, the wines all rock- my note on the ’08 is as much of a non-event as an Olympic qualifier between the Dream Team & the Laotian nationals.

This type of redundancy can put a firm financial squeeze on yah. Let’s hope your spouse drinks wine, otherwise consider the couch your new somnolent haven. That’s where your ass will permanently reside post the credit apocalypse. Why didn’t I buy more of these puppies?

Oh yeah, that damn recession thingy. No means yes.

Aubert Ritchie '08

After a 2 year or so hiatus, the hazy, occluded fog has returned to the hue of Aubert's Chardonnay, saving all its clarity for flavor. The predictably compelling sheath of sweet fruit opens w/ the signal call of crème brulee, tangerine, hints of melted butter & citrus blossom notes. Its core of flavor paddles out to the palate rim in full bodied swells w/o a misstep, splicing in subtle echoes of smoke over a stream of teeth chattering acidity. She's all in proportion, all irresistible; as addictive a delivery device as can be fathomed, 95 points.