Description
Vega Sicilia was founded in 1964 by Eloy Lecanda y Chaves, a Spanish winemaker who was trained in the Bordeaux wine region of France. When he returned to his homeland of Castile, Don Eloy Lecanda brought with him several Bordeaux grape varieties. In the 20th century, Vega Sicilia earned a reputation as being one of the most notable wines in Spain. In fact Vega Sicilia’s wines are recognised worldwide as some of the finest and most valued red wines on the world wine market.
Tasting Notes
The Único released in 2021, 10 years after the harvest, is the 2011 Único, selected from 40 of their 210 hectares of vineyards. 2011 is a concentrated and ripe vintage, and they selected 95% Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon that were cooled in a cold room for 24 hours before being sorted; the bunches and grapes macerated at 9 to 10 degrees Celsius for three to four days, and then it was inoculated with a pied de cuve to ferment with pumping overs. Malolactic was in stainless steel, and the wine was put through a long aging, 10 years between oak and bottle, using new and used French and American oak barrels and 20,000-liter oak vats. For Vega Sicilia, 2011 was a fresher year than 2010, not the common idea about those vintages in Ribera del Duero. The wine has a developed nose with some notes of ripe black fruit, meat and underbrush, somewhat herbal and perfumed. There is something about the nose of the Únicos that I cannot quite describe but is quite distinct, and it’s in this vintage and also in the Reserva Especial. [96 Points , Luis Gutierrez – June 2021, roberparker.com]
