Vega Sicilia - Unico Reserva Especial Edición Release 2021 [09 - 10 - 11]

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

As has happened in the last few years, the NV Único Reserva Especial 2021 Release is composed of wines of around 10 years of age, in this case 2009, 2010 and 2011, with 2011 being the Único vintage released at the same time as this non-vintage blend. It's a tribute to the tradition and the past times, a blend of mostly Tinto Fino, the local strain of Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero, and a little Cabernet Sauvignon where they look for the balance and house style by blending different vintages of Único. There are many similarities with the 2011, which can represent about one-third of the blend. There's a little more development in the aromas, some of those ripe but herbal aromas and a powerful palate but without the elegance of the 2011 vintage bottling, which has more stuffing in the mid-palate. It finishes dry, with some tannins. It's certainly younger and fresher than the Reserva Especial from yesteryear, and they are now trying to hold onto some wine to again give it some older components like in the recent past. 16,916 bottles and 257 magnums produced. It was bottled in June 2017.

I tasted all of the 2021 releases from the Vega Sicilia group at the end of 2020, and the notes were published in an article then. The Duero wines are included here again for context and completeness.

Vega Sicilia is also increasing their capacity to age wines in 40,000-liter oak vats to decrease the impact of the oak in the wines. Their 210 hectares of vineyards produce more than enough grapes to produce between 250,000 and 300,000 bottles.

James Suckling

A red with plenty of blackberry, chocolate, toasted-oak, cedar and hazelnut aromas that follow through to a full body with firm, velvety tannins that are driven and deep. Finishes with black fruit and lots of hazelnut, walnut and almond undertones. Glorious now. A blend of the following vintages: 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Wine & Spirits Magazine

Guia Repsol

Doctorwine

A blend of three Unico vintages (1991-94-98) and a very rare and most original wine, obtained by mixing 42 select barriques of Unico, one that incarnates the true tradition of Spain and the Bodega. This is a wine that stimulates the senses and sentiments, a coupage of the best barriques from the chosen vintages and the time spent in wood would be unthinkable for any other wine. The color is a bright, luminous and quite concentrated red. The spices in the bouquet have an intensity that is hyperbolic as are all the nuances and the other aromas that need concentration and focus to identity and thus this is best taste this away from any contamination with food. This is a wine that shouts its intensity and yet whispers its extraordinary details. The balsamic element and intensity here are surprisingly superior to a normal Unico. A wine certain to last over 100 years.

Falstaff

Wine Enthusiast

This black-cherry-colored wine has a bouquet of blackberry, dark plum and lavender. Plush tannins provide a backdrop for flavors of ripe summer cherry, dark chocolate, caramel and roasted fennel bulb. The long-lasting finish offers a burst of orange zest and mocha. This is a nonvintage wine blended from 2008, 2010 and 2011.

Guia Peñin