Community Tasting Note
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tb_baltimore Likes this wine: 89 points
March 29, 2014 - An awkward one to review, perhaps because my expectations were so high based on the other reviews here and the writeup by Lot18 that inspired the original purchase. I had expectations that this would be a near 100-pt experience, and so perhaps had artificial expectations about the experience of tasting.
To me, the first night was about an 85-point wine. It was overly alcoholic, without much fruit or real complexity to the taste. It felt way too waxy/oily and the alcohol only continued to build with time out of the bottle. Even three hours out, this felt quite disappointing.
The following nights were much better. Maybe that suggests that, for me at least, this needs more cellar time. But, even though it was better, for this price, it wasn't over the top. I've had more pleasure from $14 bottles. This did have a sensation, on the 2nd/3rd nights that was more interesting, but it still didn't have the complexity, the depth or curious blend of interesting features that I'd expected based on the writeups.
So, the final 89 reflects that I'm not likely to invest in this one again. I'll be curious about the 2nd bottle, but better to invest in other bottles over this one, for my taste buds. Still, clearly well-made and better, after quite considerable air-time, than the 85-point type wine poured at the neighborhood diner to go with their dinner offering. But, quite poor QPR. I take this as a lesson to find and read the contrarian reviewers, since the overall reviews on this were so positive.3 people found this helpful 4,643 views
2 Comments
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raypedia commented:
4/2/14, 2:30 PM - Your comment is very useful, thanks for that. It reads like a classic example of a wine caught in its "awkward" phase. I can only add that I drank a 2005 Todos in 2013 and it was outstanding, but could tell it had many more years before it reached full potential. I've also had other Jonatas, the 2009 El Alma for example, and while approachable after a few hours of aeration and decanting, really cries out to be left alone for a very long time. If you have another bottle, I'd encourage you to sit on it for a lot longer.
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tb_baltimore commented:
4/3/14, 5:36 PM - Yes, thank-you, that is a good possibility for what happened, though perhaps a bit odd that others didn't have a similar experience. But, I will follow your advice and hold off for quite a while on the 2nd bottle. Thank-you for sharing your experience with the Jonata winery.