RADACINI | Reserve ’16 | 2016
chardonnay | pinot gris

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 a very rare white wine blend that has been released on the market last summer – Reserve ’16 2016 by Radacini. The wine is made in a limited edition of only 5907 bottles – a blend of chardonnay and pinot gris grape varieties, this wine is part of the winemaker’s flagship line that has been released on the market last autumn. As is the norm for this class of wines, it has been aged for 6 months in french oak barrels, followed by a maturation period in the bottle, 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
Bright lemon yellow color with bright topaz yellow shades towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with sweet fruits and floral flavours: green apple, green pear, lemon, gooseberry, green melon, quince, fresh cucumber, lindenflower, fresh cut grass, wild pear, fresh peacock, acacia flower and some nuanced notes of elderflower.

Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high alcohol level, moderate acidity and rough tannin. This is a very oily, silky and woody wine, with a nuanced fruity and creamy profile. It tastes smooth, round and a bit mineral, with a fair overall balance and a quite tannic mouthfeel. The wine feels very lush, supple and noble overall, as this is a fine example of a full-bodied white wine.

Aftertaste
It has a medium-plus finish and a balanced, a bit green and quite oily aftertaste.
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This is definitely a fine Wine of Moldova and the overall rating says the same, with 90.0 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 very noble and fine white blend, that is just a bit over its prime form and right on the edge of decline – crisp, oily and oaky – drink it now or in the next 3 to 4 years, as there’s still some reason for bottle ageing for those who enjoy lush and creamy old-and-noble whites – but be aware, the wine will not improve in terms of complexity nor elegance, as this is a wine that lacks a bit of character and structure in order to be considered up there, amongst the elite. In order to complement the wine’s complex aromatics, we would strongly suggest to pair it with dishes that are rich in creaminess, like for example some spaghetti carbonara, creamy chicken and bacon pasta or mushroom pasta with creamy garlic sauce. Cheers!

WineStatistics tasting results:

RADACINI
Reserve ’16 | 2016

grape: | chardonnay | pinot gris |

region: Moldova | Valul lui Traian

overall rating: | 90.0 |

maturity: on the decline

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.