EQUINOX | 5 Elemente | 2013
syrah | rara neagra | carmenère | cabernet sauvignon | malbec

WineStatistics will be evaluating wines in no particular order on no particular schedule. Just stay tuned and you will never miss one. If the wine is tasted more than once, the rating table will be updated so as to reflect all the new impressions and observations. The logic is simple – the more we taste, the more we learn.

The wine we are going to review tonight is nothing less than a legend alive – this is the wine which is different with every new vintage, but still the same one we are used to – 5 Elemente 2013 from Equinox. It’s produced in a limited edition and its blending formula is unique for every new vintage, as it depends on the quality of every grape variety – the so called ‘element’, that’s why this wine is regarded as one of the best wines of Moldova.

Let’s take a deeper look at the tasting notes and the wine’s review statistics:

Visual
Deep purple color with shades of garnet towards the rim.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with ripe black fruit: sour cherry, black currant, blackberry, black cherry, black raspberry, black mulberry and some hints of violets. An instant later comes secondary and tertiary notes of red and black pepper, cinnamon and the elegant flavor of a roasted oakwood mixed with some subtle hints of truffle.

Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high but very well integrated alcohol level, strong acidity and dry tannin. It tastes sharp and seedy, with a nuanced fruit-forward profile. This is definitely a new-world blend – expressive, extracted and dense, with overwhelming acidity. The wine has a fair overall balance between barrique and fruit, as neither dominates, which is nice.

Aftertaste
The wine has a medium-plus finish and a balanced, a bit tart and astringent aftertaste.
____________________________________________________________________________

This is definitely a great Wine of Moldova and the overall rating says the same, with 90.5 points scored it is right there, among the best wines we’ve tasted so far. Please click on the chart icon on the left in order to get to the wine rating page, where you can find all the wines we’ve tasted to date.

Conclusion: in our opinion this wine is still too young to drink now, as its acidity and tannin are quite austere and aggressive at the moment. We would strongly recommend to keep it a bit longer in the bottle, nonetheless, in coupe with some grilled steak meat, this wine will do just fine in its current state, just remember to keep the meat spicy and fat, to counter balance the acidity and tannin in the wine.

WineStatistics tasting results:

EQUINOX
5 Elemente | 2013

grape: | syrah | rara neagra | carmenère | cabernet sauvignon | malbec |

region: Moldova | Stefan-Voda

overall rating: | 90.5 |

conclusion: great | a must try

____________________________________________________________________________
(c) The WineStatistics ratings are based solely on our own knowledge of the world of wine and on our personal wine tastes, which may, or may not, differ from yours – the reader. There are no absolutes of right and wrong in wine appreciation.