DIVUS WINERY | Saperavi | 2019
saperavi

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Today we are going to review a wine that is considered to be one of the best single-varietal saperavi wines from Moldova – Saperavi 2019 by Divus Winery. Saperavi is a teinturier grape variety, which means that the flesh of the berry is also dark, thus the wines are very deep in color with high natural acidity and firm tannins, which makes them respond well to ageing. Although Georgia is the birthplace of saperavi, there are a handful of other european countries that also grow and produce high-quality saperavi wines and Moldova is one of them. Some even go as far as to say that the saperavi wines that are made in Moldova are of a better quality that the ones from Georgia. This particular wine has been aged for 12 months in three different oak barrels: french, american and ukrainian and has been produced in a limited edition of only 4000 bottles. That said and 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
colour: deep & purple color
clarity: clear indigo shades

//Olfactory
intensity: powerful & oaky
fruit profile: black fruits
__black fruits: black cherry | black plum | dried black cherry | dried black plum | aronia berry
fruit character: overripe & dried

//Flavor
non fruit: spice | oak | savory | earthy
__spice: black pepper | nutmeg | cloves | anise
__oak: coconut | liquorice | roasted oakwood | sweet tobacco | charred wood | hints of smoke
__savory: hints of leather
__earthy: black soil dust
primary layer: fruit & oak

//Palate
sweetness: dry
acidity: medium+
alcohol: high
tannin: medium+
__grip: rough
balance: good
__dominant: alcohol
body: rough | medium+

//Taste
fruit profile: black fruits
fruit character: overripe & dried
non fruit: spice & oak
finish: medium+
aftertaste: hot & seedy

//Scoring
DIVUS WINERY | Saperavi | 2019
variety: saperavi
country: Moldova
region: Valul lui Traian
rating: 92.2

//Conclusion
maturity: developing | age for 2-3 years
verdict: fine | highly recommended
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This is definitely a fine 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.

Verdict: this is a quite bold saperavi wine that has yet to reach the peak of its prime form, thus one that will surely benefit from another 2 or 3 more years of bottle ageing. It tastes rough, oaky and extracted, with a nuanced fruity-woody accent on the profile and a slightly austere palate. On the nose the wine delivers very nuanced oaky-coconut notes mixed with overripe and dried black fruits in the foreground, supported by a plethora of woody-spicy hints in the background. On the palate it has overwhelming alcohol, nice integrated acidity and a bitter-rough tannic grip on the mouthfeel, which leads to a quite hot and seedy finale. All in all this is a very expressive saperavi wine that in its current state feels a bit angular and rough, therefore a wine that needs a bit of time to settle down and round up it’s sharp edges. What this wine lacks today is a bit of harmony and finesse on the palate, as on the nose it does not lack neither expressiveness nor extract, especially appealing and mesmerizing are those coconut & liquorice notes.

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