CHÂTEAU VARTELY | Chardonnay | Dulce Alb | 2013
chardonnay

We will be evaluating wines in no particular order on no particular schedule. Just stay tuned and you will never miss our reviews. If the wine is tasted more than once, the rating table will be updated so as to reflect all the new impressions and observations.

Today we are going to perform a trip into the past and re-evaluate one of the best dessert chardonnay wines that were ever made in Moldova – Chardonnay Dulce Alb 2013 by Château Vartely. What makes this wine special is the fact that this is the only single-varietal chardonnay dessert wine in Moldova, made of grapes that were partially affected by botrytis cinerea fungus – the so called ‘noble rot‘. Noble Rot is a type of fungus that shrivels and dehydrate the wine grapes while maintaining the sugar levels, which in turn intensifies the sweetness level of the wine and adds flavor complexity, due to higher levels of phenylacetaldehyde – a special aroma compound found mostly in botrytis affected berries. Also, this is the first wine made in Moldova that was awarded a platinum medal by Decanter World Wine Awards. That said, without further ado, let’s move on straight to our tasting results and see how the wine evolved since our last review.
___________________________________________________________________________
Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

(rev.2015)

(rev.2020)

//Visual
concentration: deep
color: yellow
clarity: bright
hue/rim: yellow

//Olfactory
intensity: powerful
fruit profile: green fruits | citrus fruits | tropical fruits
__green fruits: quince | pear | apple
__citrus fruits: sweet lemon
__tropical fruits: pineapple
fruit character: overripe | jammy | baked

//Flavor
non fruit: sweet | floral | other
__floral: acacia blossom
__sweet: quince jam | pear jam | cherry jam | lemon jam | raisins | honey
__other: almonds
__wood: none
aroma: primary | secondary | tertiary

//Palate
sweetness: extra sweet
acidity: high
alcohol: medium
tannin: low
__grip: ripe
body: oily
balance: good
__dominant: acidity
complexity: complex

//Taste
fruit profile: sweet fruits | tropical fruits
fruit character: baked | overripe | jammy
non fruit: sweet flavours | oxidative notes
finish: med(+)
aftertaste: velvety-sweet

//Scoring
CHÂTEAU VARTELY | Chardonnay | Dulce Alb | 2013
variety: chardonnay
country: Moldova
region: Codru
rating: 93.7

//Conclusion
maturity: past its prime
verdict: great
___________________________________________________________________________
This is definitely a great wine of Moldova and with a total of 93.7 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.

Verdict: this is a really mesmerizing dessert wine – one that evolved nicely in the bottle and one that has just passed the peak of its prime. The wine feels more of a summer nectar than an actual wine – elegant, oily and extremely appealing, with a nuanced fruity-jammy profile, it is very well balanced and harmonious – a wine that can still age for another year or two. It tastes creamy, rich and expressive, with mouth-watering acidity and a syrupy, seedy-sweet finale. Our suggestion is to drink this wine today rather than tomorrow, as long as it is still creamy, rich and flamboyant. Truth be said, this is a wine that will leave no prisoners. If you had one of these and saved it for better times – you did well – the wine evolved nicely since 2015.

(rev.2015)
(rev.2020)

___________________________________________________________________________
© 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.