2014 Único Reserva Especial (1994, 1995, 2000), Vega Sicilia, Ribera del Duero, Spain

2014 Único Reserva Especial (1994, 1995, 2000), Vega Sicilia, Ribera del Duero, Spain

Product: 10008004716
Prices start from £850.00 per case Buying options
2014 Único Reserva Especial (1994, 1995, 2000), Vega Sicilia, Ribera del Duero, Spain

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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3 x 75cl bottle
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Description

Vega Sicilia's Reserva Especial has no vintage and is representative of the more traditional concept of Spanish winemaking. The winery seeks to continue a very old Spanish custom and bring together a collection of different vintages in perfect harmony. Traditionally in Spain, the few wineries that bottled their wines (most sold their wines from the cask) made two types of wine with each harvest: that of the current year, and another wine without a specific harvest, which was called “Reserva Especial”. It was a blend of wines from the best harvests, which came to be the most representative wine of the winery.

The vagaries of a certain vintage can be blended away leaving a wine that is, in some opinions, better than any of the single vintage wines. It is made from their oldest vines, often 100 years old and blends three vintages (in the case of the 2014 release – 1994, 1995 & 2000), designed to be more than the sum of their parts and selected for the individual characteristics to achieve balance.
Stuart Rae- Private Account Manager 

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate
The NV 2014 Release Reserva Especial is a blend of different harvests, and therefore sold without a harvest year. This 2014 Release is a blend of 1994, 1995 and 2000, three very good years for Unico. Reserva Especial is the most Burgundian, classical and reminiscent of the old-style Vega Sicilias of yesteryear, a more subtle, baroque wine, aged for a long time in wood. It has a high level of complexity and a touch of volatility, which clearly tells you that this is not a style for everyone. This is not a fruit-driven wine. It’s a tertiary wine with a developed, complex bouquet consisting of hints of leather, earth, spices and iodine, and a subtle, elegant style. This was bottled in 2010 and is one of the best modern-day Reserva Especial vintages. By the way now that we’re talking about the best Reserva Especial, if you ever have the chance to drink a bottle of the 1990 release – that is the best one I’ve ever had. 15,500 bottles of this prodigious wine were produced. Make sure you grab at least one!
Luis Gutierrez - Wine Advocate - Issue#214 Aug 2014 Read more

About this WINE

Vega Sicilia

Vega Sicilia

Vega Sicilia, Spain's “first growth” and most prestigious wine estate, is located in Ribera del DueroIt was founded in 1864 by Don Eloy Lecanda y Chaves, who arrived from Bordeaux with cuttings of local grapes (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec) and planted them, together with Spain’s signature grape Tinto Fino (aka Tempranillo) in the arid Ribera soils.

The winery begun building its formidable reputation after 1903 under the ownership of Antonio Herrero, winning a number of awards at home and overseas. The estate changed hands several more times before its acquisition by the current owners, the Álvarez family, in 1982.

The estate’s success is founded on its meticulous approach. In the vineyard it applies low yields, aided by green harvesting and painstaking selection at harvest. In the winery, wines are aged in any number of receptacles – using French and American, new and old oak, small barrels or huge vats – to engender further complexity. Despite prolonged barrel ageing, the fruit is never dried out or overly oaky – compelling evidence of the superb quality of its raw materials.

The Vega Sicilia range includes three cuvées: Único (literally translating as “unique”) is the flagship, followed by Único Reserva Especial (a multi-vintage blend) and their “entry-level” offering Valbuena 5° (an expression of Tinto Fino aged for five years, hence the “5°”). The top two wines are a blend of Tinto Fino with a small percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Merlot, depending on the vintage. They are both aged for approximately 10 years prior to release, normally spending six of those in barrel and three in bottle.

This illustrious property laid the founding stone for Ribera del Duero, which is now acknowledged to be one of the best wine regions in Spain.

Vega Sicilia has now built up a portfolio which includes Bodegas Alion (providing a more modern expression of Ribera del Duero),  Bodegas Pintia (in the emerging region  Toro), Macán (a partnership with Benjamin de Rothschild) and the Hungarian Tokaji estate, Oremus.

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Tinto Fino & Cab. Sauvignon

Tinto Fino & Cab. Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is the most famous red wine grape in the world and one of the most widely planted.
It is adaptable to a wide range of soils, although it performs particularly well on well-drained, low-fertile soils. It has small, dusty, black-blue berries with thick skins that produce deeply coloured, full-bodied wines with notable tannins.

Its spiritual home is the Médoc and Graves regions of Bordeaux where it thrives on the well-drained gravel-rich soils producing tannic wines with piercing blackcurrant fruits that develop complex cedarwood and cigar box nuances when fully mature.

Tempranillo is a high quality red wine grape that is grown all over Spain except in the hot South - it is known as Tinto Fino in Ribera del Duero, Cencibel in La Mancha and Valdepenas and Ull de Llebre in Catalonia. Its spiritual home is in Rioja and Navarra where it constitutes around 70% of most red blends. Tempranillo based wines tend to have a spicy, herbal, tobacco-like character accompanied by ripe strawberry and red cherry fruits. It produces fresh, vibrantly fruit driven "jovenes" meant for drinking young

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