Not long ago, a series of wines called VINVOYAGE was released on the Moldovan market, and it has won recognition and love of many wine connoisseurs in a short time. And for good reason: the wines are really of a very decent quality and at a friendly price.
Probably some readers will be surprised to know that the famous manufacturer of divins, the Tiraspol Winery and Distillery KVINT has started producing wines big time. And we must give credit to the KVINT’s winemakers who are really good at what they do, which is proven by the numerous medals from the prestigious tasting competitions.
Today we will talk about the VINVOYAGE series, which includes five wines – Rkatsiteli, Pinot Grigio, Irsai Oliver, Viorica, and Feteasca Neagră.
The name VINVOYAGE, meaning a “wine trip”, conveys the whole idea of this series. Its authors invite us to an exciting trip that will help us learn the wine culture of different countries. “To create this collection, our specialists have covered thousands of kilometers in search of the best varieties of grapes”, they say in the company.
Each particular variety of grapes used for this series, is a kind of signature for the wine-growing country where it originates from. The label of each wine tells us which country this grape represents in this virtual oenological voyage.
All the tasted wines of this series are of 2016 vintage.
Rkatsiteli cannot but surprise
The seedlings of this variety were specially brought from Georgia, despite the fact that there are many plantings of this vine in Moldova. Previously, grapes of this variety, being of late crop, did not have enough time to ripen properly in the conditions of our country. But with the warming of the climate, this variety developed in a completely new way.
Wine VINVOYAGE Rkatsiteli is characterized by light-straw color. The first nose is an intense aroma of ripe white fruit. It stands out for its fragrant tones of yellow juicy pear, peach, quince, and paradise apples (crab apples). The taste is delicate, soft, refreshing, slightly mineral, with apple notes.
The label shows the symbol of Georgian winemaking – kvevri, large earthenware vessels.
Pinot Grigio – fruit mix
This is the grape variety which reminds us about Italy, because the best wines from the Pinot Grigio variety are produced in the northern part of this country. Therefore the label depicts Venice. The winemakers of KVINT made this wine semi-dry, because the grapes were very sweet: some of the sugars did not ferment to alcohol (it is still quite high – 13.1% vol.), but remained in wine. It is very important to take into consideration that usually the wine from Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio, like those from the Sauvignon variety, needs to breathe in order to reveal the bouquet properly, that is why it is recommended to uncork a bottle of such wine at least 30 minutes before serving.
VINVOYAGE Pinot Grigio wine features light-straw color. The first nose is the saltiness of the sea mixed with the tones of white fruit. The aroma is rich, with the shades of yellow apples and pears, apricot (Prunus armeniaca), banana pulp, lemon peel, honeysuckle flowers and liquid acacia honey. The wine has a rather full body. Its taste is characterized by a pleasant unobtrusive fruity sweetness, the aftertaste reveals the shades of lemon and pear peel.
Irsai Oliver – love from the first note
In the beginning not everyone can pronounce the name of this wine and the grape variety, Irsai Oliver, but you will remember it, because you cannot but fall in love with it. The wine from this Hungarian variety literally stuns with its powerful aroma, which opens in a glass instantly: everything becomes perfectly clear at once – women will be crazy about Irsai Oliver.
The wine is of light-golden color. The first nose is like all of a sudden you magically found yourself in a blossoming garden, where the May afternoon intoxicates you with its multivarious fragrance. In the second wave you can distinguish some nuances: blossoms of linden and acacia, rose petals, decorated with muscat vibes, tones of linden honey and light citrus notes.
The wine is semi-dry, but for such a luxurious flavor with sweet notes this taste is completely harmonious, it is very gentle and expressive, repeating floral and citrus tones. Its full taste transforms into a long, rich aftertaste with a touch of red orange.
VINVOYAGE Irsai Oliver was awarded a silver medal at the competition Mundus Vini-2016 (Germany).
Viorica – enchantment personified
I must admit, I like wines from Viorica variety and I am proud of Moldovan selectionists who gave it to the world. The label depicts one of the symbols of Moldova, the folk dance Joc. Viorica is a very delicate and charming wine, like a young beauty.
The color of this wine is light straw. The first nose is like a bouquet of flowers. When satiated with oxygen, Viorica reveals bright aroma of roses, fresh ripe peach, and crisp apricot just picked up from a tree. Then, a typical note of this grape variety appears, a note of basil (Ocimum), which makes this wine recognizable, Moldavian, the signature of our land.
Its taste is inimitable, fresh, with shades of peach, rose petals, and pleasant sourness. There is inner harmony living in Viorica. The alcohol is quite high for the white wine – 13.1% vol., but is not felt at all. The aftertaste is long, more than 20 seconds, with the prevailing tone of basil.
It is recommended to drink this wine during the first year of its lifespan, to enjoy its youthful charms. Undoubtedly, this wine gives much more pleasure and emotion than it costs.
VINVOYAGE Viorica won five silver medals at the tasting competitions in Great Britain (International Wine and Spirit Competition-2017), Belgium (Concours Mondial de Bruxelles-2017), Bulgaria (The Balkans International Wine Competition-2017), Germany (Mundus Vini-2018), and Portugal (Portugal Wine Trophy-2018).
Feteasca Neagră – luxuriance of bouquet
The only red wine in the VINVOYAGE series is Feteasca Neagră made from the same-named autochthonous grape variety, and it is also dedicated to Moldova.
The wine features dark color, it is almost opaque, with a ruby spark. The first nose is like black wild berries, emphasized by the tones of maturity. Its rich bouquet stands out for notes of dried wild black cherry, raspberry, ripe black mulberry, milk cream, vanilla, sweet pepper, and some floral nuances.
Its dry taste possesses some light astringency. It shows the shades of dried black cherries, which turn into a long aftertaste. It is a very worthy wine.
VINVOYAGE Feteasca Neagră was awarded three awards: a gold medal at the International Wine Contest Bucharest-2017 (Romania), silver medals at The Balkans International Wine Competition-2017 (Bulgaria) and The Black Sea Region Wines and Spirits Contest-2018 (Moldova).
It is very important that among these itineraries for imaginary journeys there is also Moldova, since most of the wines produced in our republic are intended for export. If the foreign consumers associate Moldova with these fine wines, they will become the best ambassadors of our country.
The series is made up of very interesting wines, bright and different, arousing a storm of emotions, creating a good mood, giving joy and excitement – a state which is typical for traveling.
The wines themselves “travel” for export to the USA, Japan, China, Great Britain, Romania, Poland, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
Why such a price?
Many asked me a question: why the price is that low for such a high quality of wine, compared to other Moldovan wines. In fact, they could be sold much more than 53.5 Moldovan Lei per bottle (in the network Alcomarket).
Apart from the good intentions of the manufacturer to make quality wines affordable for a wide range of consumers, there are some objective factors. The KVINT factory has the largest plantations of its own vineyards in Moldova (2 thousand hectares), grapes for distillates are harvested by harvesting machines, many other processes in the vineyards are also mechanical. In this large company, expenses and human resources are well optimized. Besides, it is known that production expenses are lower for large volumes of production than for small ones. All these factors allow KVINT offer consumers friendly prices for high quality wines.
We should use this opportunity, because not so long ago the wines of the Tiraspol Winery & Distillery KVINT were not sold at all on the right bank of the Dniester river.
Returning to the name of the VINVOYAGE series, I would like to remind that translated from French the word “voyage” means a journey or a flight, but it can also represent the life path – after all, we are just travelers in this world. In our life’s path, each of us makes many decisions. So let VINVOYAGE become one of your right decisions in choosing wines, due to which you will go on a flight or on a trip.
P.S. In Moldova, the VINVOYAGE series can be purchased in the networks Alcomarket, Rogob, Fidesco, Moldretail, Dacia LV, Metro and wine.md.
