ATÚ WINERY | Merlot – Cabernet Sauvignon – Pinot Noir | 2017
merlot | cabernet sauvignon | pinot noir

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Tonight we are going to review a wine blend that is relatively new on the market – Merlot – Cabernet Sauvignon – Pinot Noir 2017 by Atú Winery. This is a blend of two classic Bordeaux varieties and one Bourgogne variety – merlot which forms the main body and brings to the foreground the dominant red fruit flavors, cabernet sauvignon which adds structure and texture due to its firm tannins, and pinot noir which smoothness the final blend and brings a bit of earthiness to the mix. Atú Winery has been created in 2016, with its winery located in Chisinau, this is the first urban winemaker in Moldova. That said, without further ado, let’s take a look at the wine tasting results!
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

Visual
Noble but transparent garnet color, with pale copper shades towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is rich, filled mostly with overripe red fruits and spicy flavours: red plum, redcurrant, cranberry, sour cherry, sweet red cherry, paprika, dried red plum and cherry tree wood. An instant later the nose is filled with nuanced notes of red pepper, nutmeg, red soil dust, sun dried oakwood and some subtle hints of forest floor.

Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and fine-grained tannin. It feels noble, firm and complex, with a supple, bitter-seedy accent. This is a quite overripe, rich and tart wine, with a nunced fruit-forward profile. It tastes oaky, well structured and a bit spicy, with overwhelming acidity and a touch of alcoholic warmth on the mouthfeel. The wine has a good overall balance, with a very expressive and fruity mid-palate.

Aftertaste
The wine has a long finish and a quite pleasing, seedy-crisp aftertaste.
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This is definitely a fine wine of Moldova and, with a total of 91.3 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 fine wine blend, one that is already very close to its peak form. With overwhelming acidity, this wine needs just a bit more time to round up and smoothen its edges, therefore we would strongly advocate for at least 1 more year of bottle ageing. In its current state, the wine is evolving quite nicely in the glass, therefore we would suggest an aeration of 20 to 25 minutes in the glass or in the decanter. In order to highlight the wine’s expresiviness, we would recommend to pair it with meaty dishes rich in spicy accents and natural umami flavours, like for example some garlic butter lamb chops or nicely done rib-eye steak, as all this wine needs, is some fat to cut through. Cheers!

WineStatistics tasting results:

ATÚ WINERY
Merlot – Cabernet Sauvignon – Pinot Noir | 2017

grape: | merlot | cabernet sauvignon | pinot noir |

region: Moldova | Codru

overall rating: | 91.3 |

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.