2016 Paul Lato Chardonnay East of Eden Pisoni Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (6) Avg Score: 93.4 points

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  12/31/2020 - mtarrant003 Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Pale lemon in appearance. Unique aroma on the nose that is quite sweet and aromatic and smells like bubble gum. Very pure and precise on the palate, lots of typical Chardonnay flavours but with so much freshness, energy and zing. Long finish. In a really great place so hard to argue to let this age further.

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  12/26/2020 - Derek Darth Taster wrote: 93 Points

  Dinner with J at Maison Dakota. Drank in Gabriel Standart. Initially quite tight and needed a good 1 hour in Zalto decanter to show up.
  Appearance is clear, pale intensity, lemon colour. Legs.
  Nose is clean, medium intensity, with aromas of rich butter oil, citrus lemon, ripe peach, hot stones minerality becoming white chalk and wet stones minerality with more air. Developing.
  On the palate, dry, rounded medium+ acidity, medium+ alcohol (14.5%), medium+ almost full body. Medium+ intensity, with flavours of rich sweet rounded citrus lemon, ripe peach, honeydew melon, butter oil, hot stones becoming chalky and salty wet stones minerality with more air. Mouthfilling long finish.
  Very good quality. Big serious Chardonnay with serious extract and oak, but not overly done. This leaves me feeling like I should have waited on this for another 2-3 years. Alas there goes my only bottle of it. I think Jancis may have underestimated this wine.

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  8/29/2020 - Mbad77 wrote: 93 Points

  A rather good wine but not entirely elegant. It’s very open and drinking now, in fact I wouldn’t want to age it too much.
  Huge fruit and masses of oak (I think it’s 70% or so which is huge) the oak however isn’t a problem as it’s woven into the structure really well. Good enough acidity and with all the acid, fruit and oak you don’t really notice the very punchy 14.5%
  Not a style I want to stock up on but very much happy to have a few to hand to drink over the next couple of years.

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  5/20/2020 - msuwine wrote: 95 Points

  The Battle of the Pisonis! Or, err, the tasting of two 2016 Chardonnays from the Pisoni Vineyard - one made by its namesake (the Pisoni Family), one made by a sommelier-turned-winemaker (Paul Lato). Which one was better? It depends on whether you prefer backbone in your Chardonnay (which I do), but I give the overwhelming edge to Lato, which was the more compelling and energetic wine tonight.
  
  - Lato “East of Eden.” Light yellow in color and lively in the mouth, the wine offers evocative aromas of pear skin, lemon peel, brioche, and ocean air. Flavors of green apple, orange marmalade, and vanilla bean, with a briny but soft finish that is just magnificent. Some Lato wines can be too tight, almost harsh, but this walks the line, offering a briny and lively undertone (i.e., the backbone) that supports the whole in brilliant fashion. 14.5% alcohol. Give this at least an hour of air, but it is a marvelous wine; for all its precision and generosity, this could be confused for a Le Montrachet (but cheaper!). 95+ for now, with potential upside in 6-18 months.
  
  - Pisoni Pisoni. More yellow in color and heavier in the mouth, the wine offers more straightforward aromas of cantaloupe, lemon meringue, and vanilla bean. The flavors are more round, with notes of guava, dried mango, golden delicious apple, and almond, followed by a creamy, almost lackadaisical finish that could easily hail from a middling Russian River Valley producer. I expected a far more energetic wine, but this feels like the last few weeks of senior year in high school - you're present, but not really. 92 for now, though perhaps it will come into its own. 14.1% alcohol.
  
  A victory for the not home team! I opened the Lato first, but it maintained its verve far longer than the Pisoni (which flattened and then faded as the night wore on). There are wines that grab you and don't let go, and the Lato is one of them - pure, energetic, and beautiful. In eight words: the Pisoni was decent; the Lato was brilliant.

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  12/31/2019 - air guitar & pinot noir Likes this wine: 95 Points

  A perfect sense of purity and a totally clean and pristine delivery. Gorgeous orchard fruit with nary a flaw or disruption. A perfect tightrope walk of clarity and greatness here. Fantastic fruit plus great winemaker equals stellar outcome. Clarity of a diamond.

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