Vega Sicilia is without a doubt the most prestigious winery in Spain; a pioneering producer that is often referred to as the "Spanish First Growth" who blazed a trail for the wines of Ribera del Duero, as well as those of Toro and more recently, La Rioja.
It is therefore with great pleasure that I can announce we have secured a very limited allocation of the latest Vega Sicilia releases including Único 2011, Valbuena no.5 2016, Alión 2017, Pintia 2016, Macán 2016 and Macán Clásico 2017.
Único 2011 | £711 IB (3x75cl)
95% Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, selected from the best 40-hectares of vines. Aged for a minimum of 10 years between barrel and bottle, this is the estates flagship wine.
"This is an Único with a very subtle, polished and delicate style. It is extremely fragrant, more aromatic than textured, subtler than the magnificent 2010, but approaching it in quality. Great complexity and balance, with deep aromas of cedar, cigar box, incense. Tertiary profile and with fruit that has evolved and is fully integrated into the wine. A vintage that's all about perfume." 18.5/20 points. Ferran Centelles (jancisrobinson.com)
"2011 is a concentrated and ripe vintage, and they selected 95% Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon... the wine was put through a long aging, 10 years between oak and bottle, using new and used French and American oak barrels and 20,000-liter oak vats. The wine has a developed nose with some notes of ripe black fruit, meat and underbrush, somewhat herbal and perfumed. There is something about the nose of the Únicos that I cannot quite describe but is quite distinct, and it's in this vintage and also in the Reserva Especial." 96/100 points. Luis Gutiérrez (Wine Advocate)
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Valbuena no.5 2016 | £282 IB (3x75cl)
94% Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) and 6% Merlot from from vines with an average age of 35 years old. It is aged for 5 years in barrel and bottle, from which the name derives.
"This vintage is a little more elegant compared with 2015. It is a subtler wine, much more forest floor, nails and cedar wood. A more structured vintage, but equally delicious. It is a very balanced wine, more serene than the previous year. A bucolic vintage, with a clear impact of provençal herbs at the back palate. A round and elegant vintage for more immediate consumption than 2015." 18/20 points. Ferran Centelles (jancisrobinson.com)
"This is again a floral and elegant vintage of Valbuena, very much in line with what has happened in the best vintages since 2010. 2016 is going to be a wine that the public is going to like; it has an extroverted personality and is perfumed and generous, juicy and tasty and nicely textured, with fine-grained tannins and very focused and clean flavors. 2016 was a year of very good freshness in Ribera del Duero, a year they like even better than 2018." 96/100 points. Luis Gutiérrez (Wine Advocate)
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Alión 2017 | £310 IB (6x75cl)
A careful selection of 100% Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) from the very best sites in Padilla, Valbuena de Duero and Pesquera.
"It's a classical Alión, with some developed aromas, juicy and round but not heavy, with just a tad of earthy rusticity. With time, it develops more balsamic notes and hints of licorice." 94/100 points. Luis Gutiérrez (Wine Advocate)
"It is a firm, hard Alión, with lots of black fruit and hints of ash. A very rooty vintage, rich in humus and organic notes; to decant and to leave open for a while, with a closed nose but which will grow. With all these deep and earthy notes, it surprises with its more polished and fresh palate, with a lot of intensity of flavour, very polished tannins and just memories of forest floor. An Alión with tension, which will undoubtedly evolve very well." 17/20 points. Ferran Centelles (jancisrobinson.com)
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Pintia 2016 | £210 IB (6x75cl)
100% Tinta de Toro (Tempranillo) from the famous pebbled vineyards located on the west bank of the Duero river.
"The 2016 Pintia comes from a cooler but drier vintage, and the wine has a little less alcohol and more freshness. It fermented in oak vats and matured in mostly new and mostly French oak, but this year they used a little more American oak with the idea to increase density. 2016 was an atypical year in Toro; they had plenty of time to pick the grapes with lower alcohol and wines with more elegance. This is clearly a more elegant vintage than 2015. The wine has some notes that took me to the Northern Rhône, and the oak is neatly integrated—it seems to get better integrated in cooler years. There is a mix of black and red fruit that denotes good freshness. The palate is medium-bodied, with a distinct lack of rusticity and density, and it's more fluid. It has abundant, chalky and fine-grained tannins and a supple, long and dry finish." 95/100 points. Luis Gutiérrez (Wine Advocate)
"Although it is a vintage that finished more leisurely and fresh, this Pintia does not lose its forcefulness. Black nose showing cocoa, plum, coffee, charcoal, roasted notes. On the palate, it is a dense, concentrated black-fruit bomb with a touch of tar. So extraordinary with this level of concentration. It is the most forceful face of the Tempos Vega Sicilia group." 17/20 points. Ferran Centelles (jancisrobinson.com)
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Macán 2016 | £270 IB (6x75cl)
The main wine from the bodega using 100% Tempranillo from prime vineyards in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, Labastida, Ábalos and El Villar.
"Let me be resounding just for this once: 2016 is the best vintage of Macán so far. Definitely. It is a spicy wine, tamed by the foudre, with a degree of structure and aromatic depth from the barrel. It has a lot of flavour, freshness, salinity; mouth-watering. It is a deep wine, with fully melted tannins, lots of wild red fruit. It grows in the glass, in a subtle style but with flavour. It has the purity and elegance of those somewhat addictive wines, the kind you always want to smell and taste over and over again." 18.5/20 points. Ferran Centelles (jancisrobinson.com)
"They think this 2016 is finally the style they were looking for, a wine with density and freshness. 2016 was the first year they vinified and aged from start to finish in the new winery, and they believe that gave them better control over the fermentations. 2016 is a year with more freshness than 2015, and they are trying to achieve wines with more tension and less power and oak than in the beginning. This could very well be the finest vintage of Macán so far." 94+/100 points. Luis Gutiérrez (Wine Advocate)
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Macán Clásico 2017 | £160 IB (6x75cl)
In the Bordeaux style of offering a second wine, Macán Clásico is more approachable and has more delicate fruit than its older brother.
"...the wine has a creamy and gentle quality, ripe without excess, a little in the style of the 2015, with finer tannins, a fine thread and texture and a long, dry and supple finish. This is definitely a warmer year for Macán Clásico but a triumph..." 93/100 points. Luis Gutiérrez (Wine Advocate)
"I am surprised and I like this Macán, it has firmer tannins than in past vintages but the fresh and fluid profile that is sought in this wine is increasingly noticeable. Juicy, with very pure and expressive fruit and a texture that is not at all hard. It is a balanced wine, serene, with aplomb, but one that does not lose freshness. A wonderful job in a very complicated vintage." 16.5/20 points. Ferran Centelles (jancisrobinson.com)
SOLD OUT
Please note prices quoted are In Bond (ex-Duty and VAT), per case as stated 3x75cl or 6x75cl.
