2014 Paul Lato Chardonnay East of Eden Pisoni Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (12) Avg Score: 94.4 points

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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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  12/21/2020 - mpdonnel Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Phenomenal showing. These are in a perfect place with 6-8 years of age.

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  12/19/2020 - jshufelt wrote: 93 Points

  Slow-oxed for 45 minutes before service. In the glass, very clear pale-medium gold. On the nose, lemongrass and smoky oak. On the palate, a crisp attack with oranges and lemons, with abundant acidity, a backdrop of oak, and a tertiary note of clove all the way through a moderately long and biting finish. This skirts quite close to the edge of having a bit too much bite and acid, but as it is, it works.

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  9/28/2019 - jbro wrote: 93 Points

  From the few bottles I have tasted, this maker's wines are really distinctive--hard to compare with anything else in my cellar. Bright light gold in color with citrus notes dominating the nose. Citrus and melon on the palate with plenty of acidity and for me, no noticeable oak. Long finish. Vineyard does make a difference as this was much better than the same vintage from either Sierra Madre or Duvarita (which was truly weird )

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  4/19/2018 - CRUSHER Likes this wine: 96 Points

  awesome chard, greater acidity and balance, dominant notes of lemon and lemon rind, loved it

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