2012 Valbuena 5°, Vega Sicilia, Ribera del Duero, Spain

2012 Valbuena 5°, Vega Sicilia, Ribera del Duero, Spain

Product: 20121240599
Prices start from £345.00 per case Buying options
2012 Valbuena 5°, 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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Description

Aged for five years in new and used French and American oak barriques and vats. 

Opaque ruby. Primary dark berry and cherry scents are complemented by suggestions of vanilla, coconut, cured tobacco and cedary oak and accented by a suave floral top note. Sappy, concentrated and expansive in the mouth, it offers sweet black raspberry, cherry-vanilla, and candied liquorice flavours supported by a juicy acidity spine. It unfolds slowly with air, picking up a spicy quality that carries through the long, gently tannic finish, echoing the cherry and coconut notes. Hands off this one for at least a few more years.

Drink 2023 - 2033

Josh Raynolds, Vinous.com (May 2017)

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Critics reviews

Josh Raynolds, Vinous93/100

Aged for five years in new and used French and American oak barriques and vats. 

Opaque ruby. Primary dark berry and cherry scents are complemented by suggestions of vanilla, coconut, cured tobacco and cedary oak and accented by a suave floral top note. Sappy, concentrated and expansive in the mouth, it offers sweet black raspberry, cherry-vanilla, and candied liquorice flavours supported by a juicy acidity spine. It unfolds slowly with air, picking up a spicy quality that carries through the long, gently tannic finish, echoing the cherry and coconut notes. Hands off this one for at least a few more years.

Drink 2023 - 2033

Josh Raynolds, Vinous.com (May 2017)

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Wine Advocate95/100

The 2012 Valbuena was cropped from a vintage with a very dry and warm summer that resulted in very healthy grapes. Since the 2010 vintage, this wine has been fermented plot by plot following the findings from a soil study they did. The élevage is in French and American oak barrels that, on average, lasts some 18 months, followed by another 18 months in 20,000-liter oak vats, but of course, some lots had more time in barrique and others more time in vat. 

It has ripe tannins and a powerful mouthfeel but with a soft texture. Even if it's not widely mentioned, it always has had some French grapes, mainly Merlot, but this 2012 is the first Valbuena ever to be really 100% Tempranillo—because the Merlot didn't behave well in this warm and dry year. It follows the path opened by the 2010, more precise and elegant, rounded by that extra time in larger vats to finish polishing the tannins. 

I find this 2012 halfway between 2010 and 2011. It has depth and elegance and is more serious than Alión, which is always the (maybe unfair) comparison. 174,545 bottles and some larger formats were filled in April 2014.

Drink 2017 - 2027

Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (March 2017)

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Jancis Robinson MW17.5/20

Very good vintage, a warm one, with a longer harvest than usual – about 4.5 weeks. Aged three years in oak and two in bottle, 75-80% French oak, the rest American. The first year – ‘musculation’ the winemaker calls it – in barrique, the second year in bigger oak for blending and the third year back in barrique to ‘revitalise’ the wine before bottling. 90% Tinto Fino and 10% Merlot.

Blackish crimson. Initial impression is very dark and savoury fruit. But there is also a very ripe note to the fruit. Super-dry, chalky, compact tannins. It's all about the texture on the palate. It opens up to a more savoury/sweet note, like roasted jacket-potato skins. But floral too. 

Drink 2020 - 2035

Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com (January 2017)

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James Suckling94/100

The depth and intensity to this wine are focused and rich with so much chocolate, coffee and hazelnut character. It is full-bodied and very polished with juicy tannins. Light, angular edge. 

Better in 2019 but already beautiful.

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (July 2017)

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Decanter93/100

A dry, sunny vintage with a resultantly rich and fleshy Valbuena that has a warm lick of alcohol on the finish. It is bold and expressive and has a firm impression of fine oak and a tannic structure. The wine spent part of its second year ageing in barrel, which may account for this. This is the first ever Valbuena to be 100% Tempranillo, as the Merlot, which would usually be in the blend, failed to flourish.

Drink 2020 - 2028

Sarah Jane Evans MW, Decanter.com (April 2018)

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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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Ribera del Duero

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

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Tempranillo/Tinto Fino

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.

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