Vega Sicilia - Unico Gran Reserva 2013

Druva

Cabernet Sauvignon

Tasting note

I had already tasted the 2013 Único from magnum in a vertical tasting of all the magnums ever produced and was quite impressed by it (and the still unreleased 2014 that should be available in 2024). 2013 saw a rainy harvest, and the wine is subtle, elegant and fresh, complex, silky and with precision. The wine matured in 225-liter barrels in an initial phase and then in 22,000-liter oak vats until it was bottled in June 2019. This year, the final blend was 97% Tinto Fino and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon with a little less alcohol, 14%, and a pH of 3.78 and 5.2 grams of acidity, fresh and balanced, more elegant and subtler. Único often transcends the character of the vintage and doesn't follow the norm in the region, and the 2013 is a good example of that. It was a very rainy and complicated vintage; they harvested quite quickly to avoid botrytis, and while other people waited for concentration, they did not, and their approach clearly paid back. It's aromatic and floral, less dense than the 2012, subtler, more expressive and more elegant. It's clean and fresh, tasty, with very fine tannins. It's a big surprise for the vintage and one of the finest Únicos in the last few years. 76,476 bottles, 3,658 magnums and some larger formats produced, the shortest crop since 2009.

Vega Sicilia has increased the capacity to age wine in large oak vats to 75,000 liters and are making a detailed study of their non-saccharomyces yeasts. They are the most prestigious winery in Spain and one of the creators of the Ribera del Duero appellation. They work 210 hectares of vineyards in 55 separate plots and produce between 240,000 and 325,000 bottles, depending on the conditions of the vintage.

I tasted the wines to be released during 2023, and I also tasted all the Único magnums ever produced, which are published in a separate article. I was very pleasantly surprised by the 2013 Único.

I attended a once-in-a-lifetime tasting of all the vintages in magnum from Vega Sicilia to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the purchase of the winery by the Álvarez family. It was not a very formal tasting but more of a day of enjoyment and celebration with colleagues from the international press. Food (from Celler de Can Roca) was even served during the tasting, so my notes are sometimes very sketchy; but I wanted to take the opportunity to give context to some of the greatest vintages ever (mostly 1970 and 1968), tasting all the wines side by side.

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Vega Sicilia är den mest prestigefyllda vingården i Spanien och deras kultvin Único görs endast i de bästa årgångarna av druvor från de bästa vingårdarna. Único är Spaniens obestridda svar på en Grand Cru – ett legendariskt vin och bland världens absolut mest eftertraktade. Vega Sicilia släpper Único först när den är klar, och det är oftast först efter 10 år i vingårdens källare – varav 6 år på ekfat. Resultatet är ett vin med unik koncentration, komplexitet och elegans i en kombination som ger det en imponerande lagringspotential. 2009 är en av de finaste årgångarna av Único någonsin, och Parker ger den hela 98 poäng – det högsta betyget sedan 100-poängslegenden från 1962.

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Bodegas Vega Sicilia är Spaniens svar på en Grand Cru och landets mest prestigefyllda vingård. Vingården ligger i Ribera del Duero där Eloy Lacanda y Chaves planterade Bordeaux-druvorna Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot och Malbec sida vid sida med den lokala Tempranillo 1864. Vega Sicilias kultstatus började dock först i början av 1900-talet under 1900-talet. ägande av Antonio Herrero. Sedan dess har vingården bytt ägare flera gånger tills den slutligen föll i händerna på de nuvarande ägarna; Familjen Alvarez 1982. Receptet på vinernas framgångar finns i i ett närmast hysteriskt kvalitetsfokus som börjar med extremt låga skördar, grönskörd och ett extremt tufft urval av druvor under skörden – bara det bästa är gott nog. Vega Sicilia är särskilt känt för kultvinerna Único, Único Reserva Especial och Valbuena 5.