LACERTA | Cuvée IX | 2015
cabernet sauvignon | merlot | feteasca neagra | syrah

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Tonight we are going to review an amazing wine from Romania – Cuvée IX 2015 by LacertA Winery. This is a red wine blend that is made with no fewer than 4 grape varieties: cabernet sauvignon, merlot, feteasca neagra and syrah – all of them combined to the point of excellence. Cuvée IX is the estate’s flagship wine, sourced from the Romania‘s most famous wine region – Dealu Mare. After the harvest, the grapes were subjected to cold maceration before the alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. What makes this wine unique is the oak ageing process, as the final blend is aged for 12 months in french, american, russian and romanian oak barriques. But enough with all that theory, without further ado, let’s move on, 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 purple hues towards the rim of the glass.

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

Gustatory
The wine is dry, with a moderate alcohol level, high acidity and velvety tannin. It feels bold, extracted and youthful, with a round yet tannic mouthfeel. This is definitely a new-world blend style – fruity, oaky and powerful, with a supple and a bit opulent finale. It might be a bit too tart and a bit too smoky, yet there’s no denying that this is a fine wine indeed. The wine has a good overall balance, with a touch of alcoholic warmth showing through on the mouthfeel, as it lacks some harmony, elegance and finesse – a common issue for new-world young wines.

Aftertaste
It has a long finish and a balanced, a bit tart and quite woody aftertaste.
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This is definitely a fine Wine of Romania and the overall rating says the same, with 91.6 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 fine examples of a wine that is yet too young to be uncorked, a wine that has not yet reached the summit of its prime form, as it needs another 3 or 4 years before it gets there. At the moment, the wine feels a bit off its balance: acrid, woody and lean at the same time, with velvety tannins and bitter-seedy aftertaste. What it needs is time to settle down, round up in order to find the much desired harmony between alcohol, acidity and tannin. In order to uncover all the wine’s hidden potential, we would strongly recommend to pair it with spicy meaty dishes with smoky accents, like for example asian steak with butter sauce, spicy t-bone or some sticky barbecue ribs. Enjoy!

WineStatistics tasting results:

LACERTA
Cuvée IX | 2015

grape: | cabernet sauvignon | merlot | feteasca neagra | syrah |

region: Romania | Dealu Mare

overall rating: | 91.6 |

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.