FÁUTOR | Illustro | 2015
cabernet sauvignon | merlot

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Tonight we are going to review a famous Bordeaux-style wine blend with the label ‘Made in Moldova’ – Illustro 2015 by Fáutor Winery. Made of cabernet sauvignon and merlot grape varieties, this is the winemaker’s flagship wine and, as is the norm for those kind of wines, it has been aged for 12 months in french oak barrels. The curious fact is that cabernet sauvignon–merlot blends are the world’s most popular formula for red wines, as those two varieties combined can mask each other’s flaws and elevate each other’s strong points, thus resulting in more balanced, elegant and complex wines. But let’s not put too much emphasis on the 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 shades towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with ripe black fruits and spicy flavours: ripe black cherry, blackberry, black raspberry, ripe black mulberry, blackcurrant, ripe black plum, cherry seeds, black soil and cherry tree wood. An instant later the nose is filled with elegant notes of roasted oakwood, cloves, black pepper, nutmeg, black tea, anise, sweet tobacco, allspice, charred wood and some insistent hints of smoke.

Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and firm tannin. It feels elegant, well structured and complex, with a nuanced fruity and oaky accent. This is a quite noble, bold and extremely appealing wine, as it tastes ripe, seedy and tannic. Firm and velvety, this wine has a nuanced new-world profile and a delicious mouthfeel, without any sharp edges or unpleasant flamboyance on the palate.

Aftertaste
It has a good overall balance, long finish and an elegant, seedy-tannic aftertaste.
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This is definitely a great Wine of Moldova and the overall rating says the same, with 92.6 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 firm, noble and quite seedy wine, that has a distinctive new-world profile, definitely a wine in its prime form, yet one that can still age for another 3 to 5 years. It has plenty of tannic grip on the palate, a textured character and a touch of alcoholic warmth showing through on the mouthfeel. We would recommend to pair this wine with spicy meaty dishes that are rich in natural umami flavours, like for example venison tenderloin with mushrooms and asparagus or beef fillet with porcini and thyme. Noroc!

WineStatistics tasting results:

FÁUTOR
Illustro | 2015

grape: | cabernet sauvignon | merlot |

region: Moldova | Valul lui Traian

overall rating: | 92.6 |

maturity: in its prime

conclusion: excellent | (a must try)

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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.