EQUINOX | Echinoctius | 2015
cabernet sauvignon | rara neagra | malbec

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Tonight we are going to review a wine that has raised to legendary status over the years – Echinoctius 2015 by Equinox. This is the winemaker’s flagship wine – a wine blend made of cabernet sauvignon, rara neagra and malbec grape varieties, where each variety has been harvested individually at its optimal ripeness and aged separately for 30 months in new oak barrels. Needless to mention that it has been produced in a very limited edition of only 1600 bottles, thus the wine is a rarity even here in Moldova. Now, let’s skip the theory part and move on, straight to the tasting to find out how good this wine really is!
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

Visual
Deep and opaque ruby color, with noble garnet shades towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with ripe black and red fruit flavours: ripe sour cherry, overripe cranberry, black cherry, ripe red plum, ripe redcurrant, ripe red cherry, black plum, blackcurrant, black mulberry and candied sour cherry. An instant later the nose is filled with elegant notes of roasted oakwood, red pepper, nutmeg, red wood, anise, cloves, sweet tobacco, cinnamon and some subtle hints of wood polish.

Gustatory
The wine is extra-dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and fine tannin. It feels fruity, tannic and seedy, with a nuanced new-world accent accent. This is a quite grippy, extracted and expressive wine, as it tastes ripe, firm and muscular. This wine is a bit too young at this stage – bitter-crisp and well structured, with overwhelming acidity on the palate, without any nuanced edges or excessive flamboyance on the palate. It has a good overall balance and a firm body, with lots of complexity and nuanced fruitiness.

Aftertaste
The wine has a long finish and a velvety-noble aftertaste, with a bit excessive acidity.
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This is definitely an exceptional wine of Moldova and, with a total of 94.5 points scored, this wine is right there, among the best wines we’ve rated so far. Check our complete database on the wine rating page, where you can find all the wines that we have tasted and reviewed or go to the about us page and find out more about our exquisite rating system.

Conclusion: this is a wine that is yet too young to be enjoyed, as its acidity and tannins needs to settle down – a wine that has yet to reach its prime (probably in the next 3 to 5 years). Despite its youthfulness, it has a firm tannic grip on the palate, a textured character to the mouthfeel and a touch of alcoholic warmth showing through, which make this wine a bottled mixture of ripe fruit and noble wood. We would suggest to pair this wine with meaty dishes that are rich in natural umami flavours, like for example tournedos rossini with foie gras and truffles or filet mignon with garlic butter. Enjoy!

WineStatistics tasting results:

EQUINOX
Echinoctius | 2015

grape: | cabernet sauvignon | rara neagra | malbec |

region: Moldova | Stefan-Voda

overall rating: | 94.5 |

maturity: on the rise

conclusion: excellent | (a must try)

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© 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. Just remember that there are no absolutes of right and wrong in wine appreciation.