2012 Paul Lato Pinot Noir Duende Gold Coast Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (15) Avg Score: 93 points

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  6/17/2022 - RGCM Gananda Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Prior bottle was nearly four years ago and while the wine continues to show quite well, it was a small step down form the heights my prior three bottles reached. Black cherry, blackberry, black raspberry and light spices on the nose. Medium bodied now with black cherry and black raspberry the dominant fruit notes. The black cherry remains rounded and open with the black raspberry providing the deeper, darker notes. Mid-body has very good balance, but perhaps, not quite the sense of elegance that prior bottles showed. The backside is also much more integrated now with only light spices and a touch of tart black cherry. The more prominent contrasts in prior bottles had helped give the wine more complexity. Overall, the wine has enough structure so that the fruit continues to shine and reach nearly the heights that it did previously. But this is a great candidate for current drinking as it's a very good spot now, but additional time won't be a positive.

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  7/20/2018 - RGCM Gananda Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Prior bottle was nine months ago and while this bottle showed just as well, my notes were a bit different. All blackfruit on the nose (as opposed to red) with intensely aromatic black raspberry, black cherry and earth. Opened about two hours ahead of time and drunk over an additional two hours. Between medium and full bodied again and with that same sense of elegance, roundness and silkiness, especially through the middle and especially after it had been open for a number of hours. Black raspberry upfront with a smoother streak and black cherry behind which served to integrate the upfront fruit quite well with the mid-body of the wine. Mid-body is where this wine shines, showing wonderful balance and impressive integration. Lots of spice notes along with tart qualities (tart red cherry, tart, brighter, high-toned strawberry) towards the back and through the finish, but the longer the wine is open, the more integrated these qualities become and the more complexity the wine overall shows. By the time this had been open for four hours, it showed complexity, depth and balance, but in a fashion that tell me this wine should continue to improve along these lines for the next couple of years. Sadly, this was my last bottle and while I'll keep an eye out for more, never a bad thing to go out on top!

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  1/18/2018 - BigTex22 wrote:

  Some funk on the nose, medium bodied with red fruit. Tasted like it has several more years of aging possible.

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  1/5/2018 - ozziewine Likes this wine:

  No decant, though Mrs. Ozziewine liked it with one pass through the Vinturi. Used Old World Pinot Glass.
  More of a New/Old World Hybrid and more Old World than previous Latos I've enjoyed (Pisoni, Solomon Hills, Hilliard Bruce).
  It's not often we finish an entire bottle in one night, but this was too good to leave any! A soul-satisfying wine to be sure.

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  1/5/2018 - jshufelt wrote: 95 Points

  Pop and pour. In the glass, clear red shading to violet-red at the rim. On the nose, a focused burst of baking spice and rose, relatively free of crushed fruit notes. On the palate, silky, smooth, and elegant - the fruit shows up here, in spades, but this is not in any way syrupy or cloying. It's not only that the spice notes and the acidity are providing balance to the fruit, it's also that all of this somehow ends up being light and refreshing. One of the nicest pinots I've had in a very long time.

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