CRAMA OPRISOR | Cabernet Sauvignon | 2018
cabernet sauvignon

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 review a single-varietal cabernet sauvignon wine from Dealurile Olteniei region, a wine that is rightly considered to be one of the best that Romania has to offer – Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 (also known locally as the ‘red label’) by Crama Oprisor. Cabernet Sauvignon is grown all over the world in a wide range of climates and regions and it can produce wines that are very high in tannins and acidity, that can mature and develop for many years in the bottle. Cabernet Sauvignon is also a late ripening grape variety, which means that it is best suited for warm climates, where it is capable to produce wines that can reach into realms of perfection, where they are rarely followed. This particular wine is in fact a blend of different cabernet sauvignon cuvée’s, made of grapes that were picked from different parcels of the same vineyard, each of them vinified separately and aged between 14 and 18 months in french and american oak barrels of different age, grain and toast levels. The wine is signed by Liviu Grigorica & Veronica Gheorghiu and is bottled unfiltered, in order to preserve the varietal characteristic of the grape variety. That’s quite impressive, don’t you agree? That said and without further ado, let’s take a look at the wine tasting results.
_________________________________________________________________________
Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

//Visual
colour: deep ruby color
clarity: hazy garnet shades

//Olfactory
intensity: rich & expressive
fruit profile: red fruits | black fruits
__red fruits: red currant | red plum | cranberry
__black fruits: blackcurrant | black plum | blackberry | aronia berry | black cherry
fruit character: ripe

//Flavor
non fruit: spice | oak | earth
__spice: red pepper | black pepper | cloves
__oak: sun-dried oak | roasted oakwood | rooibos tea
__earth: clay | loam | brown soil | marl
primary layer: fruit | oak | savory | earthy | herbaceous

//Palate
sweetness: bone dry
acidity: high
alcohol: high
tannin: high
__grip: fine
balance: good
__dominant: acidity
body: plump | full body

//Taste
fruit profile: red fruits & black fruits
fruit character: ripe & overripe
non fruit: spice & earth
finish: long
aftertaste: seedy-crisp

//Scoring
CRAMA OPRISOR | Cabernet Sauvignon | 2018
variety: cabernet sauvignon
country: Romania | Oltenia
region: Dealurile Olteniei
rating: 94.1

//Conclusion
maturity: developing | age for 3 to 4 more years
verdict: great | a must try wine

//Prediction
predicted RP rating: 90

_________________________________________________________________________

This is definitely a great wine of Romania and, with a total of 94.1 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 complex and well structured cabernet sauvignon wine, with a plump and voluptuous mouthfeel. The wine is still in the development phase, therefore we would recommend to age it for 3 or 4 more years in the bottle, in order to allow it to develop further complexity and finesse. On the nose it displays a mixture of ripe red & black fruits in the foreground, followed by a spicy-oaky background and a subtle earthy layer in between. On the palate the wine delivers crisp acidity, ripe & fine-grained tannins and a firm touch of alcoholic warmth that is showing through on the mouthfeel, which leads to a seedy-crisp aftertaste. All in all, this is one of the best cabernet sauvignon wines that we have tasted so far and definitely one of the finest wines of Romania: bold, firm, and expressive – a wine that needs more time to develop, as the potential is there. Our recommendation is to pair it with naturally scented meats, like for example a venison steak or some veal chops. Cheers & Enjoy!

_________________________________________________________________________
© 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.