TARABOSTE | Pur Aristocratic | Rezerva | 2016
cabernet sauvignon | merlot

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Tonight we are going to review a wine that has acquired a legendary status over the last decade – Taraboste Pur Aristocratic Rezerva 2016 by Château Vartely. This is in fact the winemaker’s flagship wine and one of the most famous wines with the label ‘Made in Moldova‘ – a blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot grape varieties, where cabernet sauvignon forms the wine’s main body and structure, while merlot is all about up-front richness and red fruit flavors. The wine is vinified in a classic Bordeaux-style, aged for 23 months in french oak barriques and is part of the Taraboste line, which is a tribute to the ancestors, who developed the traditions of local winemaking. But let’s get rid of all that theory and, without further ado, let’s move on, straight to the wine tasting phase!
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

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

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with black & red fruits and spicy flavours: sour cherry, black plum, blackcurrant, black cherry, blackberry, black mulberry, black raspberry and some nuanced hints of smoked plum. An instant later the nose is filled with elegant notes of roasted oakwood, black pepper, nutmeg, sweet tobacco, cloves, red pepper, cigar box cinnamon and noble hints of black chocolate.

Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and fine-grained tannin. This wine is a real crowd pleaser, as it feels expressive, structured and very noble, with a nuanced fruity-spicy accent. This is an elegant, extracted and complex wine, that tastes seedy-tart, youthful and oaky – a fine example of a new-world wine blend. The wine has a good overall balance between the primary fruit aromas and the oak-infused flavours, with overwhelming acidity and ripe, fine-tannic grip on the mouthfeel.

Aftertaste
It has a long finish and a pleasing, a bit acrid and quite seedy aftertaste.
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This is definitely an exceptional wine of Moldova and, with a total of 92.0 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 one of the finest wine blends of Moldova, yet one that is still too young, as it has yet to reach the summit of its prime form. This is a wine that requires a bit more time, as in its current state it might feel a bit acrid and youthful, therefore we would strongly suggest another 2 or 3 years of bottle ageing. The wine has a fine-tannic grip on the mouthfeel, with nuanced fruitiness and very elegant oaky notes. In order to elevate its elegance, we would recommend to pair this wine with fat-rich meaty dishes, like for example a filet mignon with garlic & herb butter or  pan-seared filet mignon with chimichurri, so that all the acidity in the wine will cut nicely through the fats of the dish. Enjoy!

WineStatistics tasting results:

TARABOSTE
Pur Aristocratic | Rezerva | 2016

grape: | cabernet sauvignon | merlot |

region: Moldova | Valul lui Traian

overall rating: | 92.0 |

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.