LILIAC & KRACHER | Transylvanian Ice Wine | 2019
pinot gris | muscat | neuburger

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Today we are going to review a quite unique wine, as it is not only a delicious dessert wine, but a true ice wine from the Lechinta wine growing area in Transylvania – Transylvanian Ice Wine 2019 by Liliac & Kracher. This wine is the product of collaboration between two famous wineries: Liliac from Transylvania (Romania) and Kracher from Burgenland (Austria). The wine itself is a blend of pinot gris, muscat and neuburger grape varieties, where pinot gris forms the wine’s main body, muscat adds up-front richness and brings floral notes to the foreground, while neuburger (a quite popular austrian crossing between roter veltliner and silvaner) rounds up and smoothens the final blend. Ice wines are one of the treasures of the wine world: made from grapes that are left on the vines to freeze deep into the winter, so that the sugar content increases due to dehydration and frost, thus resulting in lusciously sweet wines with high concentration of acids and sugar. Once you taste a true ice wine, it is really hard to ignore this wonderful gift that a marriage of grapes and cold weather can deliver. But enough theory, that said and without further ado, let’s move on straight to our tasting results.
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

//Visual
color: medium to deep yellow color
clarity: bright topaz-yellow hues

//Olfactory
intensity: powerful & jammy
fruit profile: sweet fruits
__sweet fruits: honeydew melon | mango | nectarine
fruit character: overripe & jammy

//Flavor
non fruit: floral | herbal | sweet 
__floral: acacia flower | linden flower | elderflower | white peonies
__vegetal: straw grass
__sweet: quince jam | lemon jam | manuka honey | apricot jam | raisins | figs jam
primary layer: floral & sweet

//Palate
sweetness: sweet
acidity: medium+
alcohol: medium-
tannin: none
__grip: smooth
balance: good
__dominant: sugar
body: round | medium+

//Taste
fruit profile: sweet fruits
fruit character: overripe & jammy
non fruit: floral & sweet
finish: medium+
aftertaste: velvety-honeyed

//Scoring
LILIAC & KRACHER | Transylvanian Ice Wine | 2019
variety: pinot gris | muscat | neuburger
country: Romania & Austria
region: Transilvania & Burgenland
rating: 94.0

//Conclusion
maturity: in its prime | drink now or within the next 2-3 years
verdict: great | a legendary wine
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This is definitely a great wine of Romania & Austria and with a total of 94.0 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 gorgeous, sweet summer elixir of a wine, it feels oily, round and supple and tastes deliciously jammy, with a nuanced, honeyed-syrupy mouthfeel. The wine has already reached the peak of its form, therefore we would recommend to drink it sooner rather than later, as we firmly believe that it is always better to drink a wine a year too soon than a day too late. On the nose the wine brings a mixture of overripe and jammy sweet fruits in the foreground, supported by a mesmerizing floral background and an elegant layer of honey and tropical fruits in between. On the palate the wine delivers crisp acidity and just a touch of alcoholic warmth that is showing through on the mouthfeel, which evolves nicely into a velvety and honeyed-jammy aftertaste. All in all, this is an expressive and flamboyant ice wine that feels creamy, velvety and extremely appealing – a real crowd-pleaser of a wine. Our recommendation is to pair it with creamy dessert dishes, like for example crème brûlée or panna cotta. Enjoy!

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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.