2010 Único, Vega Sicilia, Ribera del Duero, Spain
Critics reviews
Opaque violet. Intensely perfumed, expansive black and blue fruit preserve, potpourri, Moroccan spice and botanical herb scents are complemented by smoky mineral and vanilla flourishes. Sappy, penetrating and deeply concentrated on the palate, offering vibrant, mineral-laced black currant, bitter cherry, chewing tobacco, mocha and floral pastille flavors that deepen and turn sweeter on the back half. It shows superb focus and vibrant, floral lift on the wonderfully long, youthfully tannic finish, which leaves behind cherry liqueur, candied violet and spice cake notes.
Drink 2027 - 2045
Josh Raynolds, Vinous.com (February 2021)
3,362 magnums were filled in June 2016. Artwork by Eduardo Naranjo.
I've always liked the 2010 Único, and this magnum didn't disappoint me. It was a very good and complete year. The wine is still young and lively, but the primary aromas are starting to fade, and the tertiary ones are coming out. This is a very elegant vintage of Único.
Drink 2023 - 2040
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (January 2023)
94% Tinto Fino, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon. Spring frost in May but fine thereafter. Yield 25 hl/ha. Bottled June 2016: 85,185 bottles, 3,362 magnums, 228 double magnums and 36 Impériales. From magnum.
Transparent crimson. Quite a bit paler than the 2012. Opulent, voluptuous and relatively evolved on the nose. Lifted, heady. Sweet molasses sensation. Rich and edgy. This has developed quite fast and is very Spanish (cf 2012). The essence of Tempranillo sculpted into a glass—excellent acidity and vivacity.
Drink 2020 - 2045
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (September 2022)
Silky and polished, with a medium to full body and very fine, tight tannins. Layers of sour cherries, Spanish cedar, nutmeg, lemon peel, balsamic and licorice. Intensely spicy throughout. Goes on for minutes. Still needs time. Tasted from magnum.
Try after 2023
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (September 2022)
Bottled June 2016. 85,185 bottles, 3,362 magnums, 228 double magnums and 36 Imperials. Tasted from magnum.
Vega Sicilia’s own notes say ‘this vintage will go down in history’. Hard to argue with that. Fabulously aromatic with layers of sumptuous fruit, elegant oak and some tertiary characters beginning to show through. Succulent and silky arrival in the mouth, blossoming to red fruits, pomegranates and plums. Overall, elegant with superb promise. A wine that has all the elements for greatness over time. Late frost in May, excellent summer. 25hl/ha. One and a half years in new oak barrels, one year in used barrels, about two and a half years in large-format tanks.
Drink 2023 - 2050
Sarah Jane Evans MW, Decanter.com (September 2022)
Perfection is as rare in wine as it is in most things in life, but this is a stunning Único, reflecting the quality of one of the greatest vintages of the last century. Blended with 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, as it was in 2009, it's still a very youthful wine right now, with closeknit tannins, thrilling acidity, layers of spices, fresh earth, tobacco, red and black fruits, some oak sweetness and a wonderfully refreshing, leafy undertone. Simply stunning.
Drink 2025 - 2050
Tim Atkin MW, TimAtkin.com
About this WINE
Vega Sicilia
Vega Sicilia, Spain's “first growth” and most prestigious wine estate, is located in Ribera del Duero. It 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.
Ribera del Duero
In the last 30 years, Ribera del Duero has emerged from almost nowhere to challenge Rioja for the crown of Spain's greatest wine region. Once known only as the home of Vega Sicilia it now boasts numerous bodegas of outstanding quality like Cillar de Silos, Alión and Hacienda Monasterio. Ribera del Duero was granted its DO status in 1982, at a time when only nine bodegas were operating there, yet today it has over 200 wineries and more than 20,000 hectares of vines. Most of Ribera del Duero's production is red, with only a modest quantity of rosado produced. No white wines are allowed under the DO.
Ribera del Duero owes its success to a combination of factors: firstly, its terroir of schistous sub-soil bears remarkable similarity to other famous winemaking regions such as the Douro and Priorat. Secondly, its microclimate, with its high altitude, hot days and cool nights (a phenomenon known as “diurnal variation”), ensures ripeness while preserving the vivacity of the fruit, aromatic flavours and refreshing acidity.
Thirdly, it has been blessed with an exceptional native grape, Tempranillo (also known as Tinto del País or Tinto Fino). This yields superb, complex red wines that are delicious when young but which also have the capacity to age into magnificent Gran Reservas. Finally, the immense influence of its winemakers has been key – historically, of course, Vega Sicilia, but more recently Peter Sisseck (Hacienda Monasterio) and the indefatigable Aragón family of Cillar de Silos.
The same DO rules govern Ribera's barrel-aged styles as for Rioja: Crianzas are aged for two years before release with at least a year in oak barrels; Reservas must be three years old with at least a year spent in oak; and, finally, Gran Reservas must be five years old before going on sale, with two years spent in barrel. The young (joven) unoaked red wines, called Roble, tend to boast a moreish, vibrant, bramble fruit while the best oak-aged styles of Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva show intense, generous fruit, overlaid with notes of vanilla and sweet spice, and wrapped up in polished, elegant tannins.
Recommended producers: Vega Sicilia (including Alión), Cillar de Silos, Hacienda Monasterio
Tempranillo/Tinto Fino
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. However Tempranillo really comes into its own when oak aged, as with the top Riojas where its flavours seem to harmonise perfectly with both French and American oak, producing rich, powerful and concentrated wines which can be extraordinarily long-lived.
In Ribera del Duero it generally sees less oak - the exception being Vega Sicilia where it is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and then aged for an astonishing 7 years in oak and is unquestionably one of the world`s greatest wines.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
There’s something about Único… it is a wine that is never as expected, taking an appreciation of terroir to an entirely different level. The 2010 already evidences some notes of maturity on the rim with intense aromas of spice, cured meat and leather coming through alongside the concentrated macerated strawberry and tart blackberry character on the palate. These complex notes draw initial comparisons with 2006 and expectations of a richer core – yet upon tasting, this phoenix’s true colours are revealed.
The wine is incredible, with a superbly focused, breathtaking mineral core. It sings on the palate, with a crystalline minerality that generates an exuberant, lifted sensation of light and air when you taste and which lasts and lasts on the long, endless finish. Winemaker Gonzalo Iturriaga de Juan would describe this as Único’s unique terroir shining through. This is a joyful, fresh, light-on-its feet and utterly beautiful Único.
Catriona Felstead MW, Senior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd
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