PETRO VASELO | Ovas | 2019
cabernet sauvignon | merlot

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Today we are going to review another Bordeaux-styled blend from the Recas sub-region in the Banat wine region of Romania – Ovas 2019 by Petro Vaselo. This wine is a blend of cabernet sauvignon (60%) and merlot (40%) grape varieties, where cabernet sauvignon forms the wine’s main body and structure, while merlot adds up-front richness and rounds up the final blend, delivering some much desired smoothness on the finish. This is in fact the world’s most famous wine blending formula for red wines, intended to soften the boldness of cabernet sauvignon by adding some of that lushness of merlot, thus enriching the flavours, the color and the tannin. Both grape varieties are sourced from the vineyards on the Ovaș hill, planted on clayey-marshy soil, at an altitude of 220 meters above sea level. The wine itself is vinified in a classic Bordeaux-style, aged for 12 months in oak barrels of different sizes in order to preserve the varietal characteristics of both grape varieties and to add extra complexity to the final blend. But enough with all that theory, 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 ruby color
clarity: hazy ruby shades

//Olfactory
intensity: powerful & expressive
fruit profile: black fruits
__black fruits: black cherry | black plum | blackcurrant | aronia berry
fruit character: ripe & overripe

//Flavor
non fruit: spice | oak | earth | other
__spice: peppercorn | cloves
__oak: tobacco | roasted oakwood | charcoal
__earth: black soil | compost | turf | pencil lead | hints of barn
__other: subtle hints of old leather
primary layer: fruit | oak | savory | earthy | herbaceous

//Palate
sweetness: dry
acidity: high
alcohol: high
tannin: high
__grip: grippy
balance: good
__dominant: alcohol
body: firm & full bodied

//Taste
fruit profile: black fruits
fruit character: ripe & overripe
non fruit: spice | oak
finish: medium
aftertaste: crisp & seedy

//Scoring
PETRO VASELO | Ovas | 2019
variety: cabernet sauvignon | merlot
country: Romania | Banat
region: Recas
rating: 93.6

//Conclusion
maturity: developing | drink now or age for 3 to 5 more years
verdict: great | a must try wine
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This is definitely a great wine of Romania and, with a total of 93.6 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 firm, complex and well structured wine blend, with an expressive nose and a seedy-crisp mouthfeel. It is still in the development phase, therefore we would recommend to give it at least 3 to 5 more years of bottle ageing, in order to allow the wine to reach its full potential, just make sure you don’t overdo it, as 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 ripe and overripe black fruits notes in the foreground, followed by a spicy and earthy accent in the background and a very subtle, oaky layer in between the two. On the palate the wine delivers bright acidity, grippy tannins and a quite touch of alcoholic warmth that is showing through on the mouthfeel, which builds on into a seedy-crisp aftertaste. All in all, this is a rich, ripe and slightly angular wine blend with a huge ageing potential – a wine that in its current state lacks elegance and finesse on the palate. We believe this wine will pair lovely with spicy meats, like for example a peppercorn-crusted tomahawk steak or a rib-eye steak with garlic and thyme. Enjoy!

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