F’AUTOR | Tempranillo | 2015
tempranillo

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 today is one that we were waiting for quite some time, as this is a tempranillo wine made in Moldova. Tempranillo is a spanish variety with a mesmerising flavor profile and nuanced tannins. For a long time tempranillo was ignored by the outside world as a slightly rustic grape variety of strictly local appeal, as its flavour profile is essentially savoury rather than sweet. But nowadays, tempranillo is increasingly recognised as an important grape variety that can result in firm, bold and age-worthy wines. So, without any further ado, we present you the wine we are going to review today – Tempranillo 2015 from F’autor.
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Take a look at the tasting notes bellow and our detailed assessment of the wine:

Visual
Deep and opaque garnet color, with shades of noble garnet-velvet towards the rim.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with ripe red and blue fruit: overripe sour cherry, red currant, ripe blue plum, cranberry, black cherry, black raspberry, blackberry and some nuanced hints of cloves. An instant later comes secondary and tertiary notes of red pepper, nutmeg, tobacco, charred oakwood, cinnamon and some subtle hints of truffle.

Gustatory
The wine is extra-dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and yet rough tannin. It tastes seedy, woody and spicy, with a nuanced fruit-forward profile. This is a tannic-bomb, definitely a new-world style of wine – expressive, bold, dense and muscular, with overwhelming tannin and acidity. The wine has a fair overall balance between barrique and fruit, with a nicely highlighted toasty accent. It does feel a bit sharp and aggressive and it has a firm, well structured and complex body.

Aftertaste
The wine has a long finish and a balanced, a bit rough aftertaste.
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This is definitely a great Wine of Moldova and the overall rating says the same, with 90.6 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 aggressive at the moment. We would strongly recommend to keep it at least two more years uncorked. What we do like about this wine, is that despite its fare share of fruit and oak, it does mix well the overripe fruit flavours with those charred-woody notes, which makes it the perfect wine to be paired with barbecued or grill-roasted dishes, like for example some roast lamb or wild boar meat, as the acidity and the ripe tannin in the wine will cut well through those gamey, rustic notes in the dish.

WineStatistics tasting results:

F’AUTOR
Tempranillo | 2015

grape: | tempranillo |

region: Moldova | Valul lui Traian

overall rating: | 90.6 |

conclusion: great | a must try

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(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.