VINARIA DIN VALE | Vintage | 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 grape variety with moldovan origins – Vintage Feteasca Neagra 2016 by Vinaria din Vale. Feteasca Neagra has been grown for hundreds of years on substantial plantings in the south of Moldova and eastern Muntenia and today, it is the most planted red variety in Romania, a variety that has not been yet explored at its full potential in Moldova. The wines made of feteasca neagra grapes are usually full-bodied and can stand long periods of maturation, which is the case for this particular wine here, as it has been aged for 6 months in french oak barriques. That being said, let’s skip all that theory and, without further ado, let’s move on, straight to the wine tasting part!
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

Visual
Dark and deep ruby color, with hazy garnet shades towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with overripe black fruits and earthy-savory flavours: black soil, dried black cherry, overripe blackcurrant, iron, raw meat, overripe black mulberry, dried black plum, overripe blackberry and moist wood. An instant later the nose is filled with notes of red and black pepper, allspice, anise, wormwood, nutmeg, cloves and some hints of asparagus.

Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and green tannin. It feels bitter, seedy and austere, with a quite earthy and green accent. This is a rough, overripe and angular wine, as it tastes sharp and a bit aggressive – definitely off its balance – a wine that lacks elegance and finesse. This is a quite youthful feteasca neagra wine, with some nuanced alcoholic warmth on the mouthfeel and a rough overall balance – a wine that requires at least 30 minutes of aeration prior tasting.

Aftertaste
The wine has a medium-plus finish and a green, seedy-rough aftertaste.
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This is definitely a good wine of Moldova and, with a total of 89.5 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 quite austere, angular and green feteasca neagra wine – one that lacks harmony and finesse on the palate. It is definitely ready to be enjoyed now, as this is a wine that is right there, at the summit of its prime form and on the very edge of decline, therefore we would not recommend any more bottle ageing. Despite its angularity, this is a quite food-friendly wine, as it has plenty of grip on the palate and a touch of alcoholic warmth on the mouthfeel. In order to counter-balance all that sharpness in the wine, we would recommend to pair it with meaty dishes with smoky notes, like for example some spicy paleo ribs or a barbequed rib-eye steak. Hai, Noroc!

WineStatistics tasting results:

VINARIA DIN VALE
Vintage | Feteasca Neagra | 2016

grape: | feteasca neagra |

region: Moldova | Valul lui Traian

overall rating: | 89.5 |

maturity: in its prime

conclusion: good | (recommended)

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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.