CHÂTEAU VARTELY | Individo | Merlot – Cabernet Sauvignon | 2015
merlot | cabernet sauvignon
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The wine we are going to review tonight is a classic Bordeaux blend that is neither new nor old – Individo Merlot – Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 by Château Vartely. This is a blend of merlot and cabernet sauvignon varieties, which is the world’s most famous blending formula, where merlot forms the main body and palate, while cabernet sauvignon adds complexity and structure to the blend. The wine is also part of the ‘Individo‘ wine series, that is a set of 6 wines, each one with its own identity and personality, but let’s not put too much emphasis on the theory side, without further ado, let’s move on to the tasting!
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:
Visual
Deep garnet color with quite opaque pomegranate hues towards the rim of the glass.
Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with black fruits and spicy flavours: ripe sour cherry, black plum, black cherry, blackcurrant, black mulberry, blackberry, black raspberry and cherry tree wood. An instant later the nose is filled with notes of roasted oakwood, nutmeg, black pepper, anise, cloves, cinnamon, tobacco and some subtle hints of sun-dried oakwood.
Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and ripe tannin. It feels firm, tannic and a bit ustere, with a nuanced new-world oaky accent. This is a ripe, fruity and quite extracted wine, as it tastes sharp, seedy and solid. The wine has a fair overall balance, with overwhelming acidity and a touch of alcoholic warmth on the mouthfeel.
Aftertaste
It has a medium-plus finish and an balanced, quite tart and a bit rough 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 still a young yet already complex wine, that has yet to reach its prime form. The wine is too youthful to drink now, as it still lacks structure and overall harmony. It feels angular, mostly due to its highlighted acidity and the bitter-seedy accents, with a very nuanced astringency – a wine that desperately needs to settle down and round up. Therefore, we would recommend at least 2 more years of bottle ageing, as the potential is definitely there and we strongly suggest to pair this wine with meaty dishes that are rich in natural fat and umami flavours, like for example a pan seared sirloin steak with mushroom sauce or an asian steak, in order to counter-balance all the angularity in the wine with the smoothness and flavourness of the dish. Cheers!
WineStatistics tasting results:
CHÂTEAU VARTELY
Individo | Merlot – Cabernet Sauvignon | 2015
grape: | merlot | cabernet sauvignon |
overall rating: | 90.3 |
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.
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