GOGU WINERY | Blanc de Merlot | 2017
merlot

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Today we are going to review a quite interesting and even unique wine of Moldova – Blanc de Merlot 2017 by Gogu Winery. This is a single-varietal merlot wine, but it is made in a non-traditional, blanc de noir style, meaning that this is a white wine that is made of red grapes. In order to make a white wine from red grapes, winemakers use a technique, where the juice from the grapes is separated from the skins and seeds as soon as possible to avoid pigmentation and tannin extraction. The resulting wine is quite close to a regular white wine, because the pulp of the berry is grey, without any color extract. In other words, the red grapes are vinified using the white wines technique, but let’s not put too much emphasis on the theory side. Without further ado, on to the tasting phase!
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

Visual
Pale straw-yellow color with pale pinkish-peach shades towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is rich, filled mostly with herbaceous and mineral flavours: moist wood, apricot, wormwood, chalkstone, gooseberry, currant leaf, rose hips, hay, straw grass, white apple, lemon grass, white cherry, quince and some subtle hints of river stone.

Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and firm tannin. This is a quite firm, tannic and a angular wine, with a woody-herbaceous profile. It tastes quite rough and austere, with a green and sharp mouthfeel. The wine has a fair overall balance, with a touch of alcoholic warmth and a quite muscular plate.

Aftertaste
It has a medium-plus finish and a zesty, green and crisp aftertaste.
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This is definitely a good wine of Moldova and, with a total of 89.0 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 angular and austere wine, one that definitely lacks harmony and elegance on the mouthfeel – green, woody and aggressive. It feels too rough and too sharp, and despite the fact that it might further develop in the bottle, we would not recommend it. It is a white wine after all, but it gives you the feeling of an orange wine, with lots of green tannins and unbalanced palate. In order to smoothen the wine sharp edges, we would recommend to pair it with smooth-textured seafood dishes, like for example a calamarata pasta with calamari and tomato sauce. Cheers!

WineStatistics tasting results:

GOGU WINERY
Blanc de Merlot | 2017

grape: | merlot |

region: Moldova | Stefan-Voda

overall rating: | 89.0 |

maturity: on the rise

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.