FÁUTOR | Ice Wine | Traminer – Muscat Ottonel | 2016
gewurztraminer | muscat

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Today we are going to review another unique wine, as it is not only a delicious dessert wine, but an ice wine – Ice Wine Traminer – Muscat Ottonel 2016 by Fáutor Winery. The wine was produced from frozen gewurztraminer and muscat grapes, thus the resulting juice was highly concentrated in sugars and acids, due to the fact all that the water in the berries was frozen and did not end up into the grape must. Technically, any grape variety can be used for the production of dessert wines, yet there are some varieties that excel more than the others in terms of aromatics and gewurztraminer as well as muscat are two of them. But let’s skip all that theory and move on – straight to the tasting phase!
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

Visual
Quite deep, topaz-yellow color with pale, straw-yellow hues towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with notes of honey, sweet & tropical fruits and some floral flavours: overripe quince, lemon jam, overripe pear, petroleum, white cherry jam, lemon, rubber, quince jam, iris, calla lily, pear jam, acacia blossom, honey, candied pineapple, overripe white cherry, candied apricot and some insistent hints honeysuckle.

Gustatory
The wine is sweet, with high alcohol level, high acidity and ripe tannins. This is more of a fruit syrup than an actual wine: refreshingly crisp, oily and elegant, with an extremely appealing, jammy-floral profile. It feels velvety, complex and creamy, with mouth-watering acidity and a quite supple, oily body. This wine is a real crowd-pleaser – delicious, sweet and delightful, with a good and harmonious overall balance.

Aftertaste
The wine has a long finish and an elegant, oily-crisp aftertaste.
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This is definitely an exceptional wine of Moldova and, with a total of 93.7 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 ice wine is mesmerizing – it’s more of a delicious summer nectar than an actual wine – definitely already in its prime form: elegant, oily and extremely appealing, with a nuanced jammy-floral profile – this wine is nothing else than bottled poetry. It’s nicely balanced and harmonious – a wine that can still age for another 2 or 3 years. Of course, like many exceptional ice wines, this one was produced in a limited edition, as only 5400 bottles have been made, therefore if you come by one of them, don’t hesitate and get one – you’ll not regret it. Our suggestion is to drink this wine today rather than tomorrow, as long as it is still full of flamboyance and finesse. It will do great on its own, as an aperitif or paired with fruity crème brûlée or creamy panna cotta. Yummy!

WineStatistics tasting results:

FÁUTOR
Ice Wine | Traminer – Muscat Ottonel | 2016

grape: | gewurztraminer | muscat |

region: Moldova | Valul lui Traian

overall rating: | 93.7 |

maturity: in its prime

conclusion: exceptional | (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.