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Vega Sicilia

The Winery

Bodegas Vega Sicilia

"Life is a journey of discovery and Spain has given me some of the greatest wine discoveries in my professional life… they are committed to making great wines and the results are in the bottle."
- Robert Parker

A Spanish “First Growth”, Vega Sicilia is the most powerful producer hailing from the Ribera del Duero. The winery was purchased by the Alvarez family in 1982, after a history of changing hands several times. This is where it began to see prosperity, as quality and attention to detail rose with the new ownership. The property is over 2000 acres, only a fraction of which are planted to grapevines. Grapes grown include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Tinto Fino.

In reaction to the hard hit the Spanish wine industry took during the most recent economic downturn, Sicilia has renovated practices to get with the times and avoid another fiscal blow. The company has also founded new projects, including a new winery in Rioja in partnership with Baron Benjamin de Rothschild, who of course is part of the famed Rothschild family and owners of Mouton and Lafite. There are three wines available from Vega Sicilia, Unico, Reserva Especial and Valbuena.

www.vega-sicilia.com

2005
1 Pre-Arrival
750ml
V97
WA96
W&S96
WS95
WE95

Wines due to arrive late December 2024

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Tasting Notes

V97
Saturated ruby. Explosively perfumed aromas of fresh ripe red fruits, floral oils, pipe tobacco and incense take on sexy vanilla and woodsmoke nuances as the wine opens up. Densely packed yet shockingly lithe on the palate, offering intense cherry liqueur, red currant and spicecake flavors given spine by a core of juicy acidity. Shows superb energy and clarity, finishing sweet, smoky and extremely long; velvety tannins add gentle grip.
WA96
Neal Martin had already tasted the 2005 Único in 2012, before I joined The Wine Advocate, but then they released 2007 and 2008 before and the 2005 has been kept until now, as they thought the vintage required some more time in bottle. It's mostly Tempranillo with some 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, fermented with indigenous yeasts in oak vats and aged for almost six years in 225-liter French and American oak barrels and 20,000-liter oak vats. The extra time in bottle has helped the wine to develop its bouquet, and it feels very aromatic and open, with the classical Vega Sicilia perfume of yesteryear, earthy, leafy and spicy, even if they wine was kept because of its power. It's still powerful, but at the same time it's elegant and has a polished mouthfeel and fine-grained tannins. 93,545 bottles, 2,391 magnums, 146 double magnums and six imperials produced. It was bottled in June 2011. Next year they will release the 2006, and the following vintage to be released in 2019, will be 2009. Further than that they don't know, as the only newer vintage in bottle today is 2010 and they are about to bottle 2011 now.

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