ET CETERA | Aeroplane | Cuvee Rouge | 2015
cabernet sauvignon | merlot | saperavi

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.

Tonight we are going to review another local wine blend – Aeroplane Cuvee Rouge 2015 by Et Cetera. This wine is part of the Aeroplane line and is produced in the famous Stefan-Voda region in the south-east of Moldova. This is a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and saperavi – an already ‘classic’ blending formula here in Moldova – and, what makes this wine different, is the fact that it has not been barrel aged, as the Aeroplane wine series is made of wines that are easy to drink and understand, but let’s not put too much emphasis on the theory side. Without further ado, let’s get on to the tasting!
___________________________________________________________________________
Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

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

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with black fruits flavours: black plum, blackcurrant, black cherry, black raspberry, black mulberry, ripe blackberry, walnut jam, black mulberry jam, black plum jam, cherry tree wood and black tea. An instant later the nose is filled with notes of black pepper, smoke, nutmeg, cinnamon and some nuanced hints of chocolate and subtle notes of roasted oakwood.

Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and firm tannin. It feels tart, seedy and extracted, with a nuanced fruity, new world accent. This is a quite tannic, bitter and overripe wine, as it tastes woody, bold and angular, with a wide and opulent mouthfeel. The wine has a fair overall balance, with firm tannins and overwhelming acidity.

Aftertaste
It has a medium-plus finish and a balanced, tart and seedy aftertaste.
___________________________________________________________________________

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 quite young and extracted wine blend that is a bit off its balance – definitely still on the rise, as it requires a couple more years of bottle ageing (1 to 2 years should be enough) before it will reach its prime form. Just keep in mind that it is always better to drink a wine a year too soon than a day too late. Overall the wine feels angular at the moment, as it tastes bitter-tart and overripe, that’s why, we would recommend to counter-balance all the acidity in the wine with slightly spicy dishes that are rich in natural fat, like for example a grilled steak and shrimp or a black pepper steak. Cheers!

WineStatistics tasting results:

ET CETERA
Aeroplane | Cuvee Rouge | 2015

grape: | cabernet sauvignon | merlot | saperavi |

region: Moldova | Stefan-Voda

overall rating: | 90.2 |

maturity: on the rise

conclusion: fine | highly recommended

___________________________________________________________________________
(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.