CARPE DIEM | Cuvée 19/11 | 2016
rara neagra | pinot noir
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Today we are going to review a very unique wine – Cuvée 19/11 2016 by Carpe Diem. It is unique because this wine is a tribute to the happiest day in the life of Luca family: 19/11/2014 – the day when Ilinca and Ionut, the youngest members of the family, were born. Thus, this wine was concepted and dedicated to them – a blend of an indigenous grape variety, rara neagra, which adds delicateness and local terroir to the wine, and an international one, pinot noir, which adds structure and finesse to the final blend. The wine has been produced in a very limited edition of only 1850 bottles and aged for 12 months in new, french oak barriques. That said, 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, but not opaque ruby color with hazy garnet shades towards the rim of the glass.
Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with ripe red and black fruit flavours: sour cherry, black cherry, blackcurrant, blackberry, black plum, black mulberry and some subtle flavours of cherry tree wood. An instant later the nose is filled with notes of roasted oakwood, red pepper, nutmeg, cloves, black pepper, sweet tobacco and some hints of cinnamon.
Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high alcohol level, strong acidity and ripe tannins. It feels noble, fruity and expressive, with a crispy-elegant mouthfeel and quite complex body. This is a supple, appealing and a well structured wine, that tastes a bit bitter-seedy yet quite ripe, with overwhelming acidity and a touch of alcoholic warmth showing through on the mouthfeel. Overall, the wine has a good balance between primary fruit aromas and oak-infused flavours and it creates the impression of a very fine and harmonious wine.
Aftertaste
The wine has a long finish and an elegant, crisp and seedy aftertaste.
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This is definitely a fine wine of Moldova and, with a total of 91.9 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: overall this is a very fine wine blend that is still on the rise – a wine that has yet to reach the summit of its prime form – very well balanced, elegant and nicely structured, with a seedy grip on the mouthfeel and overwhelming acidity. This is definitely a wine that can still age for another year or two, yet our recommendation is to drink it today rather than tomorrow. We’ve already mentioned it before that it is of paramount importance to understand a wine’s limits, as it is always better to drink a wine a year too soon than a day too late. That said, we suggest to pair this wine with soft-textured, fat-rich meaty dishes, like for example with some italian speck or a filet mignon steak with red sauce, so that those subtle smoky hints in the food will be nicely complemented and elevated to new highs by the oak-infused flavours of the wine. Noroc!
WineStatistics tasting results:
CARPE DIEM
Cuvée 19/11 | 2016
grape: | rara neagra | pinot noir |
overall rating: | 91.9 |
maturity: on the rise
conclusion: fine | (highly 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.
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