aging Aubert Chardonnays?

As I was organizing my wine locker this morning, I was looking at some Aubert Chards and thinking about the SQN aging thread. For those with experience, when do you like to drink these wines? What are the oldest ones you’ve had?

I know there will be dissenting opinions here, but I don’t see any point in aging these chards beyond short term, say 5-7 years.

To that point, I’ve had some '10s and '11s in the past few years that have been awesome. I’ve also had some late 00s that have lacked energy. And “energy”, not tertiary elements, is the point of these wines. To my palate at least.

This brings me to the 2015 Hudson I had a few weeks ago. It was amazing, and I’m not convinced it’ll ever be better. Different, of course, but that’s another thing altogether.

I don’t trust aging ANY chardonnays anymore, except by accident. Have been burned too many times even with high acid/low alcohol/reductive winemaking style wines. I trust premier and GC Chablis up to 10 years with a reliable producer. If any CA chardonnay is still alive at 10 years I am thrilled.

That being said I consumed a 25 year old Montrachet last year that was sublime. But then again I have run stop signs by accident in the past and not gotten hit!

My rule with CA chard, never past 5 years if I can help it. I am running a minor experiment with Rhys Chardonnay from 2006/7. Satisfies my urge to gamble at casinos.

Drank most of mine the first two years. Did hold one for nearly 5 and it did not show me any meaningful development. Maybe a touch less fresh.

Held a 99 Ridge Monte Bello Chard for 10 years and in my mind it barley moved. Certainly did not show obvious signs of ageing improvement. Maybe another 5 or 10 years something might have evolved but I was happy it was fine and good.

Agree with others, drink Cal Chards in the first rew years. I am sure there are exceptions though.

I just had a 2004 Aubert Lauren Chard last Sunday. Francophiles - Enter at your own risk. . . the real wine dinner! - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

I think Aubert Chards over 10 years old are fantastic and I wish I had not drunk so many of them young. I have only 1 '04, one '05, two '06s and one '07 left. When I get to '08, I start to have more.

i had '06 ritchie and '08 reuling 3 months ago and really liked it and thought both had long life ahead…

Also had the 08 Reuling back in October and it was absolutely sublime!

Mine never make it past 3 years, “too great to wait” !

I had a Marcassin that was 15-years old and it was sublime, so, in practice, California Chardonnays can age. I’ve yet to have an Aubert at that age, but I’ve had some 10-year olds that were outstanding. I’ve got one ‘01 and one ‘02 left and plan pop them one of these days.

In the last year I’ve had a 2004 Ritchie, 2005 Ritchie, 2008 Ritchie and 2008 Lauren as well as some 09s and 10s and all were superb and not showing close to being over the hill.

I tend not to touch any for at least 2-3 years after release and then try to primarily drink from those in the 7-10yr old range. So far, so good.

Thanks for the input so far. Some of these posts are exactly what I was looking for. My holdings at this point are '06-'10, mostly '09s and '10s. I have been opening some at various ages over the years since I’ve bought these, but not enough to form any real opinions, unless the wines are actually pretty variable as they age, which has been my limited experience. I’ll keep holding a few for “science”, hoping for the types of experiences Jay described. In the meantime, I’m going to start opening some and see what I think. I really love these in the first few years because of that incredible freshness. I’m glad I opened a few at that stage, and I’m also glad to get a better view of what has happened over time so far.

I had some real issues with aging the 2002 after that I try to do the standard 6 - 10 years from vintage date.

Doug, maybe hold an 08 to taste side by side with the Oregon Chards we set aside? I think it would be neat to blind them all…purely for the sake of science!

I have had good results with Aubert vintages 2005 and more recent in the past couple of years. Still sitting on an '02 Quarry as the oldest and plan to sample that sometime soon. 2011 and 2012 sampled recently were good but still young with plenty of life ahead of them.

I have had Marcassin and Ramey with 10+ years of age that also were in excellent shape. Will be testing out 2006 & 2007 Ceritas soon too…

Somehow I have no '08s. They’d stick out like a sore thumb among those Oregon wines anyway. We’ll have another vintage together if you’re interested, though.