sid_loves_wine

Tasting Notes

• 2014 Paul Lato Chardonnay East of Eden Pisoni Vineyard

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  4/25/2024 - sid_loves_wine Likes this wine: 96 Points

  My third wine from this guy (after a Syrah and Pinot) and my third that was totally majestic and wonderful, at or on the cusp of perfection. As with the two reds, this showed an unreal and extremely rare combination of true exuberant power and truly intricate complexity. I think this was maybe the third best Chardonnay I've ever tasted when considering quality alone?- when QPR is taken into account, it's possibly at the top, or maybe silver medal.
  
  This is what 95% of "buttery chard" wants to see when it looks in the mirror. Sure, it has a bit of the butter tone that seems forbidden to enjoy if you're a wannabe wine geek with toxic sommelier influences, but it's a part of a much larger picture. To sum it up, it has an effortless perfume and vibrant palate completely loaded with golden buttered toast, lemon zest, orange bitters, vanilla bean, almond pastry, peony, and some faint stony minerality...not a super flinty/minerally chard which I also love, but it's there...and although it's waxy and dense, it has more than enough fresh acidity to cut right through the creamy textures. It's "big" but not even close to overblown- just confident and expressive, and bullied a lot of really incredible (but also generally much younger) Chardonnays in the same price range for me.
  
  Honestly, this feels like it could sleep even longer, and it continues to cement my belief that (quality) Chardonnay is the most important grape to age, even more than most quality reds.

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• 2020 Mark Ryan Numbskull Bordeaux Style Red

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  4/25/2024 - sid_loves_wine Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Certainly very tasty, although a bit overpriced- feels more like a solid $25 Bdx blend than something $35-$40. Kind of small-scaled and simple. Good balance of fruit and freshness. Faint and a little thin, but there's a suggestion of carefully ripened blackberry and some vague chocolatey baking spice, kind of "high and tight" with gentle tannins. I like that it feels fairly fresh and gentle without being "green" at all. If you find this for $25 (such as at Total Wine) its maybe a 93, but it's more often about $10 more than that. 2020 definitely isn't my favorite WA red vintage either, especially for Bdx varietals. Even if I haven't been "blown away" by any, I've had a generally positive experience with all the Mark Ryan I've tried so far.

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• 2019 Mas Martinet Priorat Martinet Bru

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  4/25/2024 - sid_loves_wine Likes this wine: 91 Points

  I enjoyed this in the end for sure, but it was a little difficult to figure out; a strange combo of uncontrolled wildness, rusticity, and hints of beauty that seemed to constantly compete for attention. The nose was so funky/barnyard on opening that I thought it could be flawed; I don't mind funky wine at all as long as it's a part of a larger experience. Thankfully, it slowly blew off (not entirely) to reveal some good fruit and spice; very leathery black plum, figs, that sort of thing, with the salty, funky accent remaining as a shrill topnote that never fully meshed with the deeper, lower fruit. The texture was really nice, some good weight without coarseness- but the acidity was also in a weird spot, almost artificially bright and fruity to the point that my wife dismissed it quickly as cough syrup (I liked it much more than her, but there's no denying the harshness in the finish.) I might have had an off bottle, but I don't think so? I may try another to be sure; or just jump to their flagship someday, since I've yet to try a "higher-end" Priorat and feel like I should.

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