2017 Valbuena 5°, Vega Sicilia, Ribera del Duero, Spain

2017 Valbuena 5°, Vega Sicilia, Ribera del Duero, Spain

Product: 20171240599
Prices start from £335.00 per case Buying options
2017 Valbuena 5°, Vega Sicilia, Ribera del Duero, Spain

Buying options

Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
Case format
Availability
Price per case
3 x 75cl bottle
BBX marketplace BBX 2 cases £335.00
BBX marketplace BBX 1 case £400.00
1 x 150cl magnum
BBX marketplace BBX 1 case £285.00
BBX marketplace BBX 3 cases £350.00
You can place a bid for this wine on BBX

Description

Gonzalo Iturriaga de Juan of Vega Sicilia professed himself, a ‘Valbuenista’ when presenting the new releases to us recently. After tasting today, I can confidently say that I too, am a Valbuenista. Beautifully complex & intense nose. Rich vanilla notes, burst plum, chewy liquorice & sweet, generous fruit. The palate is filled with deep black cherry and cacao, and a feeling of impeccable balance and gloss over your tongue. Tobacco and leather perfectly weaved together, like a well-loved cigar holder. The finish is long and characterised by the cherry notes becoming lighter and slightly floral. This is an exceptional expression of Vega’s terroir and a must-have for loyal followers of Spain’s ‘other’ region. Drink 2024-2047.

Charlie Leech, Account Manager, Berry Bros. & Rudd (Jan 2022)

wine at a glance

Delivery and quality guarantee

Critics reviews

Wine Advocate96/100

2017 was marked by the frost of the night between April 27 and 28 that Vega Sicilia fought with their anti-frost towers. The end of the season was warm, and the overall rain was low, 235 liters. The 2017 Valbuena is marked by these circumstances, produced with 94% Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) and 6% Merlot, with good ripeness (14.5% alcohol) and mellow acidity (4.65 grams of tartaric acid and a pH of 3.85). The grapes were cooled down and took three to four days of maceration to start fermenting with indigenous yeasts. The wine matured in a combination of new and used French and American 225-liter oak barrels and 21,000-liter oak vats for almost three years. The result, for whatever reason, was nothing short of spectacular. The wine is perfumed, floral, expressive and balsamic like few vintages before. It doesn't feel like a 2017 at all; it is harmonious, and the tannins were fine. It's an amazing Valbuena that clearly transcends the character of the vintage. What I see here is that since 2010, the wine has a very high consistency. And in 2017 it excels. 170,071 bottles, 5,516 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in June 2020.

Drink 2023 - 2030

Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (Dec 2021) Read more

James Suckling96/100

This shows wonderful aromas of blackberries, violets and sandalwood with vanilla undertones. Full-bodied with racy tannins and gorgeous fruit. Linear and very long. Slightly chewy. Needs time to come together, but already excellent quality. Drink after 2023.

James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (Oct 2021) Read more

Decanter95/100

Proof that in a tough year (memorable frosts and summer heat) top producers can be relied on to produce fine wines. The 2017 jumps out of the glass with cherry and redcurrant conserve, and flowers. It enters fresh, with succulent cranberry fruit. Finally finishing with dark fruits embedded in mocha and spicy fenugreek. Complete. Following the Vega Sicilia pattern, it spent its first year in barriques (20% American, 40% French). And then a second year in the impressive army of 80-220hl tinas (wooden vats).

Drink 2023 - 2030

Sarah Jane Evans MW, Decanter (Jul 2021) Read more

Tim Atkin MW96/100

Vega's vineyards were protected from the frosts by wind machines in 2017, so yields were not as badly affected as in some parts of Ribera. Aged in 80% new wood, with an 80/20 split between French and American oak, this is a blend of Tinto Fino and 6% Merlot, which shows a grassy undertone, well-handled tannic structure in a drought year, some wood spices, fine acidity and a balsamic lift. A mini Único.

Drink 2025 - 2032

Tim Atkin MW, timatkin.com (Dec 2021) 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.

Find out more
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

Find out more
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.

Find out more