UNICORN ESTATE | Symbioz | Private Collection | Pinot Noir | 2016
pinot noir

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 wine that is relatively new on the market, yet one that already made some fuss amongst the winelovers – Symbioz Private Collection Pinot Noir 2016 by Unicorn Estate. This is a single-varietal pinot noir wine and it is part of the ‘Symbioz‘ series, which is the winemaker’s flagship line of premium quality wines and, as is the norm for those kind of wines, it has been aged for 12 months in french oak. Pinot noir is the most difficult grape to grow, due to its thin skin and very compact berry clustering, making it vulnerable to a variety of diseases. Despite the difficulty in growing the grape, pinot noir is capable of producing the very best expressions of ‘terrior’ and in fact, this is the reason why pinot noir is so much appreciated all over the world. But let’s skip all that theory side and, 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
Pale yet noble garnet color with hazy shades of copper towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with ripe red fruits and savory flavours: ripe redcurrant, red plum, ripe sour cherry, cranberry, ripe red cherry, wolfberry, dried tomato, red delicious apple and cherry tree wood. An instant later the nose is filled with nuanced notes of sun dried oakwood, red pepper, nutmeg and nuanced hints of sweet tobacco.

Gustatory
The wine is dry, with strong alcohol level, high acidity and ripe tannin. It feels fruity, ripe and elegant, with a touch of alcoholic warmth showing through on the mouthfeel. This is a quite lean, soft but quite complex pinot noir wine, as it tastes crispy and structured. The wine has a good overall balance between primary fruit and tertiary aromas, with maybe just a bit more oak on the palate than expected, yet with a velvety punch of fine, yet grippy tannins and a nuanced leathery finale.

Aftertaste
It has a long finish and a quite balanced, hot and fruity aftertaste.
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This is definitely a fine Wine of Moldova and the overall rating says the same, with 91.2 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 very fine example of a local pinot noir that is right there, at the summit of its prime form. The wine feels elegant and noble and it has all the ingredients to become a real classic in 1 or 2 years time. But, as we’ve already mentioned several times before, it is always better to drink a wine a year too soon than a day too late, our strong recommendation is to drink it now. In order to elevate all it’s elegance, simply pair this wine with meaty dishes that are rich in natural umami flavours, like for example tournedos rossini or, why not a classic beef tartare with capers. Enjoy!

WineStatistics tasting results:

UNICORN ESTATE
Symbioz | Private Collection | Pinot Noir | 2016

grape: | pinot noir |

region: Moldova | Stefan-Voda

overall rating: | 91.2 |

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.