PURCARI | Vinohora | 2018
feteasca neagra | montepulciano

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 special, as this is a rosé wine blend, made of two non-traditional grape varieties: feteasca neagra, the one that forms the body and bring on the main flavour and montepulciano, which brings delicateness and character to the final blend – Vinohora 2018 by Purcari. This wine is part of the ‘Vinohora’ wine series, that is a set of three wines, each one with its own personality and character. The philosophy of this series is to marry the indigenous varieties of Moldova with famous international ones. The rosé blend is a moldo-italian hora, which combines the delicateness of feteasca neagra with the playful charisma of a true italian in montepulciano. But enough theory, 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
Pale pink color, with bright salmon hues towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with sweet berry fruits and tropical fruits flavours: raspberry, strawberry, ripe wolfberry, berberry, passion fruit, mango, dragon fruit, sweet cherry, peonies, red delicious apple, loganberry, ripe watermelon, berberry candy, candied peach, sicilia orange, red grapefruit, strawberry candy and raspberry candy.

Gustatory
The wine is medium-dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and ripe tannin. It tastes crisp, delicious and refreshingly appealing. The wine has a fair overall balance, as it feels fruity and jammy sweet, with a well structured body and a seedy, maybe just a bit bitter and sharp mouthfeel. This is a crowd-pleaser rosé wine – delicious and appealing, with just a touch of alcoholic warmth showing through on the palate.

Aftertaste
The wine has a medium-plus finish and a balanced, crisp and slightly bitter aftertaste.
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This is definitely a fine Wine of Moldova and the overall rating says the same, with 90.3 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 expressive rosé wine, one that feels off-dry and a bit off its balance – a wine that is right on the summit of its prime form, therefore we would not recommend any more bottle ageing. Due to the two unusual grape varieties used in the blend, this rosé wine feels a bit different – it is both, fruity and green and extremely appealing – it’s a classic ‘la vie en rose‘ wine, perfect for summer night promenades. We believe that this wine style, with its light body and tropical character, is a match made in heaven for slightly salted seafood dishes with delicate flavours, like for example an salmon & avocado salad or some salmon bruschetta. Salut!

WineStatistics tasting results:

PURCARI
Vinohora | 2018

grape: | feteasca neagra | montepulciano |

region: Moldova | Stefan-Voda

overall rating: | 90.3 |

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.