CHATEAU CRISTI | Pinot Noir | 2017
pinot noir

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Today we are going to review another single varietal pinot noir wine from the Valul lui Traian wine region – Pinot Noir 2017 by Chateau Cristi. This is one of the winemaker’s flagship wines, made from pinot noir grapes and produced in a traditional Bourgogne-style, with 6 months ageing in oak barrels. Pinot noir is the most sought after red wine in the world, as the grape itself is vulnerable, suffering from a variety of diseases and its genetics make it highly susceptible to mutation. Despite the difficulty in growing the grape, pinot noir is capable of producing the very best expressions of ‘terrior’ and in fact, this is the reason why pinot noir is so much appreciated all over the world. That said, let’s skip the theory part and, without further ado, let’s move on – straight to the tasting!
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

Visual
Bright ruby color with elegant translucent garnet shades towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with red fruits and spice flavours: sour cherry, red plum, cranberry, redcurrant, wolfberry, berberry, cherry tomato, cherry tree wood and red soil dust. An instant later the nose is filled with notes of oakwood, cherry tree bark, nutmeg, red pepper, sweet tobacco and some subtle hints of rooibos tea.

Gustatory
The wine is medium-dry, with strong alcohol level, high acidity and fine-grained tannin. It feels hot, angular and rough, with a fruity-tart accent. This is a quite astringent, austere and aggressive pinot noir wine, due to the overwhelming alcohol burn on the mouthfeel. The wine displays hints of old-world vinification style, as it feels quite fruity and warm, with subtle-elegant herbaceous notes on the finish – quite similar to what most of the red Bourgogne wines feel. Overall, the wine has a fair balance between primary fruit and oak-infused flavours, with a quite supple and a bit opulent body.

Aftertaste
The wine has a long finish and a quite pleasing, astringent and hot aftertaste.
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This is definitely a fine wine of Moldova and, with a total of 90.5 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 fine example of a local pinot noir wine that is produced in a subtle, old-world style – a wine that is still on the rise, but very close to the peak of its prime form. It feels fruity, austere and delicate, with the promise to become a real classic in the next 12 to 18 months. What this wine lacks today, is some harmony and elegance on the palate, as the overwhelming alcohol burn on the mouthfeel, makes it difficult to concentrate on the varietal characteristic of the pinot noir grape. That said, we would recommend to pair this wine with meaty dishes with slightly spicy accents, like for example a garlic-butter steak or a steak served with garlic-parmesan cream sauce. Enjoy!

WineStatistics tasting results:

CHATEAU CRISTI
Pinot Noir | 2017

grape: | pinot noir |

region: Moldova | Valul lui Traian

overall rating: | 90.5 |

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.