FÁUTOR | Illustro | 2016
chardonnay | sauvignon blanc | riesling

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.

Tonight we are going to review a very rare wine blend with the label ‘Made in Moldova’ – Illustro 2016 by Fáutor Winery. The wine is made of three prime grape varieties: chardonnay, which is responsible for the wine’s main body and flavour profile, sauvignon blanc, which brings acidity to the palate and savoriness to the nose, and riesling, which adds elegance and elevates the aromatics of the final blend. This is the winemaker’s flagship white wine and, as is the norm for those kind of wines, it has been aged for 6 months in french oak barrels and produced in a limited edition of just 6300 bottles. But enough 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
Clear, pastel-yellow color with bright lemon hues towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with sweet fruits and herbaceous flavours: ripe yellow pear, acacia flower, currant leaf, apricot, daysies, yellow apple, hay, straw grass, honey, fresh cut grass, wild flowers, yellow mirabelle, quince, camomile, meadow, candied pineapple, sweet melon, lemon, honeysuckle and some nuanced notes of vanilla.

Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and firm tannin. This is a crisp, zesty and quite appealing wine blend with a nuanced fruity-herbal profile. It tastes creamy, smooth and oaky, with a round overall balance and a harmonious mouthfeel. The wine feels unctuous, lean and supple –  very fine and noble blend indeed.

Aftertaste
It has a medium-plus finish and a balanced, smooth yet crisp and tart aftertaste.
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This is definitely a fine Wine of Moldova and the overall rating says the same, with 90.4 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 wine blend that is right on the summit of its prime form – crisp, elegant and refreshing, maybe just a bit more angular than expected – drink it now or in the next 2 or 3 years, as the potential for ageing is there. The wine has a crispy grip on the mouthfeel, which leads to a smooth mid-palate, firming beautifully on the finish, where the nuanced fruity-herbal flavors glide well alongside those nuanced floral notes. In order to complement the wine’s aromatics, we would suggest to pair it with creamy dishes, like for example cream cheese noodles or garlic & parmesan pasta. Cheers!

WineStatistics tasting results:

FÁUTOR
Illustro | 2016

grape: | chardonnay | sauvignon blanc | riesling |

region: Moldova | Valul lui Traian

overall rating: | 90.4 |

maturity: in its prime

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.