Aubert has become one of California’s defining names in Chardonnay, built around Mark Aubert’s belief that great wine begins with farming and a close relationship to the land. The 2024 Russian River Valley Chardonnay brings that philosophy to one of Sonoma County’s most important Chardonnay appellations, offering an entry into the Aubert style without the single-vineyard designation attached to many of the winery’s most coveted releases. For a producer whose vineyard-designated Chardonnays have become some of California’s most sought-after whites, that alone makes this bottling particularly compelling. The Russian River Valley has long been one of California’s natural homes for Chardonnay. Its proximity to the Pacific brings cooling fog and onshore breezes into the vineyards, while warm afternoons give way to markedly cooler evenings. That daily temperature shift slows ripening and helps preserve acidity and aroma, one reason Chardonnay accounts for roughly 40% of the grapes grown in the appellation. It is exactly the kind of environment suited to the balance of concentration and freshness that has become central to Aubert’s wines. Mark and Teresa Aubert founded the winery in the late 1990s, with Mark bringing decades of farming and winemaking experience to a project centered on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Aubert describes its cellar work as minimal intervention, using nature as a guide and science as a tool so that place remains visible in the finished wine. The 2024 Russian River Valley Chardonnay offers that philosophy in one of the more accessible bottles carrying the Aubert name, connecting a benchmark California Chardonnay producer with an appellation that has helped define the grape in Sonoma County.