FINESSEN-CABERNET AUS CHINA - Purple Air Comes from the East 19/20 points by René Gabriel
Von René Gabriel:
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What do the two cities of Ningxia (China) and Chanhassen, Minnesota (USA) have in common? It's the year 2016, which meant a purple ending in the USA and a purple beginning in China...
In America, a huge voice in the music world fell silent in 2016. The singer, composer, songwriter, record producer and actor Prince Rogers Nelson (called Prince) died at the age of 58. Prince achieved his international breakthrough in 1984 with the single and album Purple Rain for the film of the same name, in which he also played the lead role. During his lifetime, more than 100 million of his records were sold worldwide and Prince won seven Grammy Awards, an Oscar in 1985 and a Golden Globe Award in 2007. In 2004 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So the “Purple Rain came from the West”.
In the same year, 2016, the grapes for the “Purple Wind from the East” were harvested in Ningxia. It is a top selection from the not immodest stocks of the Chateau Changyu Moser XV winery. (Picture)Lenz Moser (picture above) was Mondavi Wine's export manager for a long time. He then launched a successful white wine project (Laurenz V.). Its lineage is identical to the Lenz Moser wine dynasty of the same name. During a visit, he falls in love with the wine country of China and feels its potential. Thanks to good relationships, he concludes an investment pact with the Chinese wine giant Changyu. As a welcome gesture, they build the gigantic winery, which is even named “Changyu Moser”. This ostentatious building is intended to provide a marketing locomotive for the Yantay-based company, which tends to be rather lethargic in terms of quality...
The busy Lenz Moser gets off to a great start and uses his diverse relationships to quickly gain a foothold in Europe and America with “his wines”.
I too am impressed and enthusiastic about his first wines and rate the 2013 Château Changyu Moser XV (a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon) with 18/20 points.
Now I'll do it again and rate the "Purple Wind from the East" at 19/20. This is also a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. It was aged in new oak for 24 months. This is a selection of the “best of the best.
2016 PURPLE AIR COMES FROM THE EAST, Chateau Changyu Moser XV: CHF 165, Schuler, St. Jakobs Kellerei. Medium dark garnet ruby with brightening outside edge. Delicate, sweet bouquet, expansive, complex, elegant with a minimal lactic touch, which gives the nose a nasally full tone. The ripe fruits occur across the entire fruit spectrum. So from red to blue to black berry reflexes. In the second batch you will find vanilla and vanilla pulp and delicate caramel. After a quarter of an hour, tender, freshly chopped herbs. Lots of mint, a pinch of eucalyptus. Not a nasal drug, but an already clarified dance of mature Cabernet, which is laced with a pinch of eroticism. Soft on the palate, velvety in flow with silky tannins. Very juicy in the flow, wonderfully balanced and ending with a nonchalant finale. Overall, showing more finesse and power. At best, this comes at the expense of impressive aging potential. But also undoubtedly for early enjoyment. What is important with great wines is that you don't have to chew for a long time in order to fall victim to a fortune telling for the day after tomorrow. It is important that when you taste it you feel like drinking a second glass. That is undoubtedly the case here. In its price category it understandably has dramatic competition in the Western world. But – as the name suggests – a new, purple, world-class Cabernet wind is blowing from the east. And where this impressive Chinese Cabernet comes from, it has little real competition to fear. 19/20 Readiness for enjoyment: Now until 2035?
