SERVE | Cuvée Charlotte | 2011
cabernet sauvignon | merlot | feteasca neagra

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 a blend made of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and feteasca neagra grape varieties, where the last one is the key, as it is an indigenous romanian variety that adds local terroir into the final blend. We have already mentioned the enormous potential of those indigenous local varieties, especially when blended with international ones, and tonight we are talking about a wine, that reached an unmatched level of complexity – Cuvée Charlotte 2011 from S.E.R.V.E.
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Take a look at the tasting notes bellow and our detailed assessment of the wine:

Visual
Noble garnet color, not too deep, with shades of ruby towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with savory flavours and ripe stone fruits: violets, truffles, turf, ripe sour cherry, red currant, cranberry, dried plum, tobacco and some nuanced hints of cinnamon. An instant later comes secondary and tertiary notes of red pepper, nutmeg, medium roasted oakwood and some subtle hints of dark chocolate.

Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high and well integrated alcohol level, high acidity and smooth tannin. The wine feels velvety, well structured and balanced. It tastes earthy and complex, as it is definitely an old-world wine. This wine has a good overall balance with a fine tannic accent towards the end.

Aftertaste
The wine has a medium-plus finish and a quite velvety aftertaste.
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This is definitely a great Wine of Romania and the overall rating says the same, with 91.0 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: this is a great wine indeed, a wine in its peak form, therefore no more bottle ageing is recommended. It does though, have all the prerequisites for long term ageing, for those who prefer vintage wines. We would recommend to pair this wine with red meat dishes, like for example a grilled T-bone steak or some game meat, as the earthiness in the wine will nicely compliment those gamey flavours in the dish. Enjoy.

WineStatistics tasting results:

S.E.R.V.E.
Cuvée Charlotte | 2011

grape: | cabernet sauvignon | merlot | feteasca neagra |

region: Romania | Dealu Mare

overall rating: | 91.0 |

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.