BOSTAVAN | Dor | Reserve | Merlot | 2015
merlot

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Today we are going to review another single varietal merlot wine –  Dor Reserve Merlot 2015 by Bostavan. This wine is part of the ‘Reserve’ wine series, which is winemaker’s flagship line, made of only premium wines that have been aged for 12 months in oak barrels. Merlot translates as ‘little blackbird’ from an old regional french dialect and is usually regarded as the underdog to cabernet sauvignon, but make no mistake here – merlot is first class, as it is the second-most planted grape variety in the world and it is the offspring of cabernet franc and magdeleine noire des charentes – a very old esoteric french variety, but enough theory, let’s move on straight to the tasting!
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

Visual
Pale but deep garnet color, with bright copper hues towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with red and blue fruits flavours: sour cherry, ripe blue plum, redcurrant, overripe cranberry, red mulberry, ripe marionberry, blackberry, black cherry, red delicious apple, cherry seeds and leather. An instant later the nose is filled with notes of red pepper, nutmeg, anise, cherry tree wood and some very delicate hints of horse saddle.

Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and fine tannin. It feels seedy, smooth and supple, with a quite appealing and fruity accent. This is a fine, tart and lush wine, as it tastes round and maybe just a bit opulent and plumpy. The wine feels well balanced with bitter-seedy, yet fine tannins – a crowd pleaser indeed.

Aftertaste
It has a medium-plus finish and an balanced, tart and tannic aftertaste.
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This is definitely a fine Wine of Moldova and the overall rating says the same, with 90.2 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 definitely a wine in its prime, round, lean and supple – this wine is a crowd pleaser – a very good merlot wine indeed and one that can still age for another 6 to 12 months. It has a quite harmonious structure and it feels very well balanced overall. In fact, we are not the only ones who were surprised by this wine’s overall qualities, as it has been awarded 95 points and a gold medal by DWWA (Decanter World Wine Awards), which is the most influential wine tasting competition in the world of wine. In order to amplify its aromatics, we would recommend to pair this wine with red sauce based meat dishes, like for example a ribeye steak with red wine reduction sauce. Cheers!

WineStatistics tasting results:

BOSTAVAN
Dor | Reserve | Merlot | 2015

grape: | merlot |

region: Moldova | Valul lui Traian

overall rating: | 90.2 |

maturity: in its prime

conclusion: fine | highly recommended

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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.