CHÂTEAU VARTELY | Individo | Feteasca Neagra | 2016
feteasca neagra
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Tonight we are going to review a single varietal feteasca neagra wine, which is an indigenous romanian variety with moldovan origins – Individo Feteasca Neagra 2016 by Château Vartely. Feteasca Neagra is the most famous grape variety in Romania, one that has not been yet explored at its full potential in Moldova. It can produce bold red wines, that can be compared to new-world cabernet sauvignon, mostly due to their full body and firm structure, wines with pronounced typicity and spiciness. The wine is also part of the ‘Individo‘ wine series, that is a set of 9 wines, each one with its own identity and personality, but let’s skip the theory side – without further ado, 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, not opaque, with pale rubby shades towards the rim of the glass.
Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with black fruits flavours: black cherry, black plum, ripe blackcurrant, blackberry, black mulberry, dried black cherry, dried plum and dried cranberry. An instant later the nose is filled with notes of cherry tree wood, roasted oakwood, black soil dust, nutmeg and some nuanced hints of nutmeg and tobacco.
Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and ripe tannin. It feels supple, fruity yet savory at the same time, with a seedy-tart and even austere accent. This is a quite appealing yet angular wine, as it tastes grippy and noble, with a touch of alcoholic warmth showing through on the mouthfeel. The wine is a bit off-balance, as it lacks harmony and elegance, with overwhelming acidity on the main plate.
Aftertaste
It has a medium-plus finish and a balanced, seedy-tart 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 quite youthful wine that is still on the rise – fruity, tart and seedy, with a bit more angularity that expected. It lacks a bit of harmony, structure and complexity, therefore we would not advocate for too much bottle ageing – 12 to 18 months should suffice, so that the tannins and acidity will get enough time to settle down and round up. Despite its angularity, the wine has plenty of tannic grip on the palate and a touch of alcoholic warmth showing through on the mouthfeel, therefore, we would recommend to pair this wine with spicy meaty dishes with smoky accents, like for example a peppered fillet mignon steak or a smoked ribeye steak, so that all the angularity in the wine will be tempered by the deep flavours of the meat. Cheers!
WineStatistics tasting results:
CHÂTEAU VARTELY
Individo | Feteasca Neagra | 2016
grape: | feteasca neagra |
overall rating: | 90.0 |
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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