1000 DE CHIPURI | Shiraz | 2014
syrah

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 tonight is a single varietal syrah wine from Romania – Shiraz 2014 by 1000 de Chipuri. In a world where bigger is better, syrah is the ideal choice, as it is darker, bolder and spicier than cabernet sauvignon and contains a high amounts of health-invigorating antioxidants. The wine has been aged for 24 months in french oak barrels and produced in a limited edition of only 4722 bottles, thus it is a rarity even Romania. Syrah is also known as ‘Shiraz’, mostly in the new-world. The old-world syrah wines tend to have more acidity and earthy-herbaceous aromas, while the new-world shiraz wines usually are more fruit-driven with lots of spice. But enough with all that 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
Deep and noble garnet color, with elegant ruby hues towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with ripe black fruits and spicy flavours: black cherry, black plum, overripe sour cherry, blackcurrant, ripe blackberry, black raspberry, black mulberry jam, smoked plum and roasted oakwood. An instant later the nose is filled with notes of black pepper, nutmeg, black tea, tobacco and some elegant hints of vanilla.

Gustatory
The wine is medium-dry, with a strong alcohol level, high acidity and ripe tannin. It feels bold, muscular and extracted, with hints of some residual sugar. This is a firm, extracted and powerful wine, as it tastes fruit-forward and woody. It might be a bit austere and astringent, as it lacks some harmony and elegance there, still, this is a very nuanced, tannic and quite seedy wine, with a fair overall balance and a touch of alcoholic warmth showing through on the mouthfeel.

Aftertaste
It has a long finish and a balanced, ripe and quite hot aftertaste.
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This is definitely a fine Wine of Romania and the overall rating says the same, with 91.5 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 wine that is quite close to its prime form – yet, one that needs another 2 or 3 years before it gets there. What makes this wine special is the alcohol content – 16% courtesy of a very hot season in the Dealu Mare wine region, which resulted in overripe grapes. All the region’s winemakers are facing a big challenge in the last couple of years: either harvest the grapes earlier in the season, risking to get green tannins in the wine, due to unripe stems and seeds, or harvest the grapes later in the season, risking to get high alcohol content in the final wine, due to the high sugar concentration in the berries. For the best wine & food experience, we would strongly recommend to pair this wine with meaty dishes rich in spicy and sweet accents, like for example asian steak with butter sauce, spicy t-bone or some balsamic pork chops. Enjoy!

WineStatistics tasting results:

1000 DE CHIPURI
Shiraz | 2014

grape: | syrah |

region: Romania | Dealu Mare

overall rating: | 91.5 |

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.