UNICORN ESTATE | Equilibrium | Cabernet Sauvignon – Merlot – Rara Neagra | 2015
cabernet sauvignon | merlot | rara 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.

Today we are going to review a wine that is relatively new on the local market – a red blend made of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and rara neagra varieties – Equilibrium Cabernet Sauvignon – Merlot – Rara Neagra 2015 by Unicorn Estate. The wine is part of the winemaker’s ‘Equilibrium’ wine line, aged for 6 months in french oak barrels, and, as is the trend lately, produced in a limited series of only 6670 bottles, but let’s not put too much emphasis on the theory side, without further ado, let’s get straight to the tasting!
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

Visual
A bit hazy ruby color, not too deep, with pale copper hues towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with black fruits and spicy flavours: sour cherry, black plum, blackcurrant, blackberry, black cherry, black mulberry, marionberry, black cherry jam, lolyberry, blackcurrant jam, chokeberry and cherry tree wood. An instant later the nose is filled with nuanced notes of roasted oakwood, nutmeg, cloves, red pepper, black pepper, tobacco, charred wood, smoke and some elegant hints of cinnamon.

Gustatory
The wine is extra-dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and firm tannin. It feels spicy, charred and supple, with a nuanced smoky accent. This is a quite bold, tannic and quite bitter-seedy wine, as it tastes woody and quite astringent. The wine has a fair overall balance, with a firm and grippy feeling on the mouthfeel.

Aftertaste
It has a long finish and an balanced, quite spicy and bitter-seedy 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 a fine and well structured wine that is still on the rise – too young to drink now as it still lacks complexity and identity. It feels angular and woody, with nuanced smokiness – a wine that has yet to settle down. We would recommend 2 to 3 more years of bottle ageing, so that the wine will get closer to its prime form, as the potential is definitely there. Despite its youthfulness, the wine has a very appealing tannic grip on the palate and a nuanced fruity yet woody accent, mixing power with finesse. We suggest to pair this wine with barbecued or spicy meats, like for example a barbequed new york strip steak or a grilled peppery rib-eye steak. Cheers!

WineStatistics tasting results:

UNICORN ESTATE
Equilibrium | Cabernet Sauvignon – Merlot – Rara Neagra 2015

grape: | cabernet sauvignon | merlot | rara neagra |

region: Moldova | Stefan-Voda

overall rating: | 90.2 |

maturity: on the rise

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.