UNICORN ESTATE | Symbioz | Private Collection | Rara Neagra | 2016
rara neagra

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 gaining a legendary status on the local market – Symbioz Private Collection Rara Neagra 2016 by Unicorn Estate. This is a single-varietal rara neagra wine, which is an indigenous moldovan grape variety that is famous for its ability to highlight local terroir. Rara neagra wines are light in body, with velvety tannins and high acidity, the main characteristics of pinot noir wines, mostly in terms of structure and finesse. This wine is part of the ‘Symbioz‘ series, which is the winemaker’s flagship line of premium wines and, as is the norm for those kind of wines, it has been aged for 12 months in local, moldovan oak, which is quite impressive if you ask us. But let’s not get carried away by the the theory aspect – 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 and noble, but not opaque ruby color, with bright garnet shades towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with ripe black fruit flavours: black plum, ripe blackberry, blackcurrant, black mulberry, black cherry, dried black plum and some elegant hints of roasted oakwood. An instant later the nose is filled with noble notes of sweet tobacco, nutmeg, red and black pepper, vanilla and some subtle hints of chocolate.

Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and ripe tannin. It tastes fruity and woody at the same time, with a very nuanced and extracted character. This is a quite noble, ripe and and seedy-tannic rara neagra wine, with a well structured body and a touch of alcoholic warmth showing through on the palate. Overall it has a good balance between primary fruit an barrique-related flavours and a complex-velvety mouthfeel.

Aftertaste
It has a long finish and an elegant, ripe and fruity aftertaste.
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This is definitely a great Wine of Moldova and the overall rating says the same, with 92.3 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 one of the best rara neagra wines that we’ve tasted so far – velvety, elegant and noble, full-bodied and amazingly appealing – a wine that is almost in its prime form. Certainly, this is a wine that can resist some more bottle ageing (up to 24 months), yet we would recommend to uncork it in the next 12 months from now, as this is a fine example of a wine that should be enjoyed at its peak form. There are wines that might gain some elegance with age (if you’re lucky enough) while losing most of the flamboyance, but there are also wines that are elegant in their youth and age will take its toll on them. Therefore, our suggestion is to pair this wine with dishes that are rich in natural, rustic accents, like for example a grilled steak with rosemary lemon butter. Enjoy and remember to keep calm and drink wine of Moldova. Hai, noroc!

WineStatistics tasting results:

UNICORN ESTATE
Symbioz | Private Collection | Rara Neagra | 2016

grape: | rara neagra |

region: Moldova | Stefan-Voda

overall rating: | 92.3 |

maturity: on the rise

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.