◎VINOUS (2021.6)より 【AG91点】
「Light, glistening orange. Highly perfumed red berry and citrus fruit and floral scents carry a spicy overtone that gains strength with air. Intense cherry and tangerine flavors show fine definition and depth, and a core of minerality conveys vivacity and back-end thrust. Finishes long and seamless, with a lingering red fruit quality and a touch of succulent herbs.」
≪モントレーのカリスマ×C.C.の花形×シャルドネ!≫
○[JD97点]ポール ラトー シャルドネ "イースト オブ エデン (ピゾーニ ヴィンヤード)" サンタ ルチア ハイランズ [2016] (正規品) Paul Lato Chardonnay East of Eden by Pisoni [白ワイン][アメリカ][カリフォルニア][モントレー][750ml]
後にアロヨ・グランデ孤高の五ツ星 『タリー』 を経て、いよいよ2002年に念願の自らのワイン、三樽のピノ、三樽のシラーを初めて手掛けます。僅か三年目の’05年には【RP95点】を、’07年には【RP98点】を奪取し、フレンチ・ランドリーへの採用も重なり瞬く間に時の生産者へ。口コミでの評判も恐ろしく高く、新進気鋭の中でも群を抜く存在として格の違いを見せ付けています。
『イースト・オブ・エデン』 とは、ご存知の通りスタインベックの有名な小説「East of Eden」、そしてジェームス・ディーンが主演して有名になった1955年の同名の映画に由来します。
ポール・ラトーはそれぞれのワインに味わいから受けるイメージを元に愛称を付けていますが、そのイメージがどうであったか、具体的にはなかなか話してくれません。想像するに、「East of Eden」の舞台がカリフォルニア州サリナスであったことが、Gary Pisoniに何か、どこか通じるものを感じたのではないでしょうか。
◎Jeb Dunnuck(2018.10)より 【JD97点】
「Coming from a terrific site located at the southern end of the Santa Lucia Highlands, the 2016 Chardonnay East of Eden Pisoni Vineyard boasts phenomenal notes of ripe citrus and white peach fruits, white flowers, and freshly crushed rocks. It's clean, incredibly pure, and elegant on the palate, with a level of tension and vibrancy you don't find too often in the vintage. I followed this bottle for two days and it only improved with air. It's a brilliant Chardonnay from Lato that’s going to benefit from a year or two of bottle age and age gracefully for a decade or more. Don’t miss it!」
◎Wine Enthusiast (2020.1)より 【WE94点】
「Dark boysenberry, hibiscus syrup and light licorice aromas lead into an acid-driven palate, where rich boysenberry and cherry flavors meet with toasted marjoram and cracked pepper. This is an affordable appellation blend that's a great entry point to explore the winery. 」
◎Jeb Dunnuck.com (2020.6)より 【JD94点】
「Moving to the Pinot Noirs, the appellation 2018 Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands has a big, sexy, spicy style as well as medium to full body, a rounded, expansive mouthfeel, classic Pinot Noir underbrush, violets, Asian spices, integrated acidity, and a great finish. This is a year-in, year-out great value readers will love.」
◎VINOUS (2019.11)より 【AG95点】
「Light shimmering gold. Fresh and energetic on the assertively perfumed nose, displaying fresh pear, nectarine and Meyer lemon scents accompanied by suave floral and chalky mineral flourishes. Silky and open-knit, offering densely packed yet shockingly lively citrus and orchard fruit, honeysuckle, candied ginger and saffron flavors that tighten up slowly with aeration. Shows outstanding delineation and finishes extremely long and seamless, showing bright mineral cut and lingering floral, iodine and pit fruit notes. These vines are still very young (planted in 2008) but the vineyard, at least based on my experiences with wines produced by a number of different winemakers, should be counted among California's elite, for both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and possibly Syrah as well.」
◎Jeb Dunnck.com (2019.6)より 【JD94点】
「The 2017 Chardonnay Soberanes Vineyard is a small step up, with more depth of fruit and richness. Orange blossom, orchard fruits, white peach, and some toasty notes give way to a ripe, sexy, full-bodied effort that holds onto beautiful purity and elegance. Drink it over the coming 3-5 years.」
◎VINOUS (2017.1)より 【AG92点】
「The 2015 Pinot Noir Pisoni hits the palate with serious intensity, weight and power. The richness of Pisoni comes through loud and clear. Black cherry, plum, dark spices and leather flesh out in a deep, ample wine that shows the more masculine side of the year. Although not especially finessed, the 2015 packs plenty of punch.」
◎Wine Advocate (2020.2)より 【RP96点】
「"Sometimes I call it the beast," says Paul Lato of the 2017 Pinot Noir Lancelot Pisoni Vineyard, which comes from 36-year-old vines planted in granite and quartz and aged for 17 months in 60% new French oak. Pale to medium ruby, it has wonderfully evolving layers on the nose: from potpourri, dried bark, orange peel and amaro, to blueberry, raspberry, rhubarb, warm wild blackberries and strawberry preserves, to perfumed dusty earth, nutmeg, mineral hints and black tea leaves. It's medium to full-bodied and silky textured, slowly blossoming in the mouth to savory, broody, spice-laced dark fruits. It's framed by firm, finely grained tannins and great opposing freshness, finishing long, savory, textured and perfumed. So good! 340 cases were made.」(Eric Brooks)
◎Jeb Dunnuck (2019.10)より 【JD97点】
「From a site located in the southern part of the Santa Lucia Highlands consisting of broken granite soils, the 2017 Pinot Noir Lancelot Pisoni Vineyard was all destemmed and spent 15 months in 70% new French oak. Ripe raspberries, strawberries, rose petals, sappy herbs, and crushed rock-like minerality all emerge from the glass, and it hits the palate with medium to full body, bright, integrated acidity, building tannins, and a great, great finish. Despite seeming to be the most seamless and elegant texturally, it has a wealth of building tannins, good acidity, and a tight, powerful, lengthy style that begs for another year or two in bottle. 97+ I continue to be blown away by the wines of Paul Lato, and these are unquestionably some of the most profound and exciting wines coming from the Central Coast today.」
◎Wine Advocate #184(2009.8)より 【RP96点】 「An exceptional effort from 10-year-old vines, this dense ruby/purple-hued, full-bodied Pinot Noir exhibits a killer aromatic display of black raspberries, forest floor, spring flowers, cola, and a subtle hint of smoke. Although extravagantly rich, it is not overweight, but rather well-delineated and pure. This is a full-bodied tour de force in Pinot Noir winemaking that has the aromatic complexity of a grand cru Burgundy, but the sensational fruit, glycerin, texture, and mouthfeel of the golden state of California. Drink it over the next 8-10 years.」
◎Jeb Dunnuck (2021.9)より 【JD97点】
「Another beautiful vintage for this cuvée, the 2019 Pinot Noir shows a more elegant, pure, classic style than some previous years, which were slightly richer and more bombastic. The 2019 reveals a medium ruby/purple hue (it’s semi-opaque) to go with a gorgeous nose of ripe cherries, raspberries, and blueberries, followed by classic Pisoni minerality, brambly herbs, violets, and forest floor. As always, this site imparts an incredible sense of rocky, mineral-like nuances, and there’s a liqueur of rock-like sensation on the finish. It needs an hour in the decanter if drinking any time soon and will have 15-20 years of prime drinking.」
◎Wine Enthusiast (2019.6)より 【WE96点】
「Deep, intense aromas of black cherry, loamy soil, bay leaf and the slightest hint of smoke show on the nose of this excellent bottling from the Pisoni family. There are plenty of earthy qualities to the tense palate, from sagebrush to slate-driven minerality, but also inviting tones of Bing cherry and ripe cranberry.」
◎Jeb Dunnuck (2019.6)より 【JD95点】
「More savory and meaty, the 2017 Pinot Noir Soberanes Vineyard offers some whole cluster influence in its aromas and flavors, but it’s beautifully pure and elegant on the palate, with fine, silky tannins. It opens up nicely with time in the glass and has plenty of fruit, good complexity, medium to full body, and a great finish, all making for one seriously good Pinot Noir. It’s approachable today but will be even better with a year in bottle.」