GITANA WINERY | La Petite Sophie | 2017
feteasca regala | chardonnay | riesling

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Today we are going to review a wine that has acquired a legendary status over the last decade – La Petite Sophie 2017 by Gitana Winery. This is the winemaker’s flagship white blend and one of the most famous local wines – a blend of chardonnay, feteasca regala and riesling grape varieties, where chardonnay forms the main body and structure, while feteasca regala and riesling adds up-front richness, sweet fruits and floral notes. The chardonnay variety has been aged for 4 months in small oak barrels in order to gain more complexity and the much desired vanilla flavours, while the other two varieties are unoaked. That said, without further ado, let’s move on, straight to the wine tasting!
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

Visual
Bright, straw-yellow color with pale, pastel-green hues towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with tropical fruits, jam and honey flavours: raisins, honey, petroleum, lemon jam, guava, quince jam, pineapple, passion fruit, maracuya, persimmon, ripe green pear, sweet lemon, overripe quince, pear candy, straw grass, peach, fresh hay, nectarine, honeysuckle and some insistent notes of botrytis affected grapes.

Gustatory
The wine is medium-dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and ripe tannins. It tastes honeyed, oily and refreshingly crisp, with a nuanced fruity-tropical profile. The wine has a quite round and smooth palate, with a supple and extremely appealing mouthfeel. Overall it feels velvety, complex and well structured, with a good overall balance on the palate.

Aftertaste
The wine has a long finish and an elegant, smooth and fruity aftertaste.
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This is definitely an excellent wine of Moldova and, with a total of 92.2 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 very fine white blend that is right there, at the summit of its prime form – velvety, smooth and amazingly appealing, with a nuanced fruity-tropical accent and mouth-watering, crisp acidity – drink it now or in the next 9 to 12 months. Just remember that it is always better to drink a wine a year too soon than a day too late. That said, we would suggest to pair this wine with creamy dishes with slightly sweet accents, like for example shrimp alfredo pasta or pear & blue cheese salad. Enjoy!

WineStatistics tasting results:

GITANA WINERY
La Petite Sophie | 2017

grape: | feteasca regala | chardonnay | riesling |

region: Moldova | Valul lui Traian

overall rating: | 92.2 |

maturity: in its prime

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.