By Christine Bertoli
Aubert de Villaine | Rick Hyde | Guillaume Boudet
A Quarter of a Century of Excellence | 2000 – 2025
A Franco-Californian partnership comes of age
The Grand Monsieur from Burgundy
The anticipation in the room at Corney & Barrow was unmistakable. Even before he spoke, Aubert de Villaine carried the quiet authority of someone whose life’s work has helped shape the way the world understands fine wine. At 87, he moves with a graceful ease that belies his age, his English wrapped in a thick French accent and delivered with a streak of self-deprecating humour that only deepens his charm.
He has come to London to celebrate a milestone: twenty-five years of Hyde de Villaine, HdV, a project that began with family. Joining him were his nephew, Rick Hyde, President of HdV Wines, and Guillaume Boudet, who has led the winemaking since 2015. Together they serve as custodians of the estate.
A partnership rooted in kinship
HdV is a singular partnership born of family ties between the Hydes of Napa Valley and the de Villaines of Burgundy. Larry Hyde forged his reputation at the helm of Hyde Vineyards, producing some of Napa Valley’s most coveted grapes since the 1970s and helping establish Carneros as a benchmark region for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Aubert de Villaine’s achievements during his tenure as co-director of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti need no introduction.
The pivotal connection that united these two lineages was Pamela Fairbanks de Villaine, Aubert’s wife and Larry Hyde’s cousin. As Aubert de Villaine tells it, the idea surfaced over a family dinner: why not make wine in California, but with a French and even — dare he say it — Burgundian sensibility? The seed was sown and the first vintage followed in 2000. The aim was never to recreate Burgundy, but to interpret Carneros with the same seriousness of intent and give HdV its own distinct voice.
California, then and now
Aubert’s relationship with California predates HdV by decades. In the mid‑1960s, he spent a year there on assignment for Revue du Vin de France, reporting on a New World wine scene that barely registered in France at the time. He recalls those early articles with disarming candour — ‘quite ashamed,’ he says now — but remembers an afternoon with a fifty-year-old Robert Mondavi, whose energy he still describes as unmatched. Mondavi’s ambition to make wines ‘better than in France’ struck him then as audacious; history has since rendered it visionary.
The three V’s
If Aubert de Villaine embodies HdV’s philosophical backbone, Guillaume Boudet is the one leading the day-to-day winemaking. Bordeaux-born — ‘but we forgive him for that’, jokes Aubert — Guillaume joined the estate in 2015 and now leads a team of three. Driven by a vineyard-first ethos, he spends most of his time in the vineyard overseeing the 7.7 hectares allocated exclusively to HdV within Hyde Vineyard.
His approach is empirical and adaptive. Early on, he stopped leaf‑thinning during ripening. This decision runs counter to Californian convention, where exposing berries to the sun is considered essential for achieving full ripeness. Boudet saw instead the risk of losing acidity to aggressive UV, stripping the fruit of the natural balance he was so eager to preserve. Picking dates, too, are dictated entirely by the fruit rather than by a strict calendar. In some years, harvest has shifted by as much as six weeks, with all the nail-biting that it entails.
He distils his philosophy into three words: Viticulture, Variety, Vintage. The aim is not to iron out the season’s irregularities but to capture them. Small berries, uneven ripening, awkward weather — these are not flaws to be corrected but signatures to be preserved, reflections of time and place. His most cherished wines, he admits, often come from the most challenging years. The 2023 Comandante, harvested in October after a cold, overcast season, is a case in point. ‘I have no idea how it happened,’ he says, half amused, half awed.
A quarter-century defying trends
Guillaume invites the audience to close their eyes and forget everything they might expect from Californian wines. He promises no secrets.
The wines do not disappoint.
The masterclass spanned 16 wines: twelve consecutive vintages of HdV Chardonnay, two Comandante Chardonnays and two Ygnacia Pinot Noirs. The through‑line was unmistakable. These are wines of tension, minerality, quiet confidence — far removed from the heavily oaked, sun-soaked, oil-coating profiles once associated with California. HdV has never chased trends; instead, consumer tastes have drifted towards them.
Rick Hyde notes that chefs gravitate naturally to the wines precisely for those reasons. Their fresh precision and ability to frame rather than compete with food cleanses the palate, preparing the mouth for the next bite.
A Conversation
Aubert speaks of Guillaume with unguarded admiration, calling him the ‘incarnation of passion’, a word he otherwise avoids for its overuse. Guillaume is unabashedly living his work and is not afraid to acknowledge that mystery still plays a part in winemaking.
There is also room for humility. Aubert admits he initially resisted the idea of producing Pinot Noir in California, doubting the grape’s ability to express the finesse he knew from Burgundy. He now concedes, with characteristic understatement, that he is ‘quite proud’ of the results.
The complicity between the three men is evident; they share an ease that comes from long collaboration and a willingness to question their own assumptions. The wines reflect that same spirit: grounded, precise, but never static.
As the tasting draws to a close, Guillaume quotes Aubert: patience is always rewarded. Then, with a shrug that feels entirely in keeping with the HdV ethos, he adds — ‘after all, it’s just wine’.
For further information, please visit the Hyde de Villaine, 2024 Vintage Report and our 2024 Burgundy Hub.