Vega Sicilia, Valbuena 5°, 2020
Vega Sicilia, Valbuena 5°, 2020
- Red Still
- Tinto Fino, Merlot
- Organic
Please note, en primeur wines are not available for delivery until they arrive in the UK
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Delivery est. in 2025
Vega Sicilia is the most significant wine producer in Spain, considered amongst the greatest in the world.
Their property is found 700 metres above sea level in the shallow Spanish part of the Duero River valley on the high remote plateau of Castilla y Leon. This unique climate delivers cold nights and hot days, allowing the grapes to become beautifully ripe and develop wonderful tannic structure, with a delightful backbone of acidity and therefore superb balance.
While Unico and Reserva Especial are the flagship stars, the Valbuena should not be overlooked. Aged for a shorter period, Valbuena is crafted for enjoyment within 5-20 years, providing a contrasting glimpse into the magic of Vega Sicilia’s terroir. It’s a wine that speaks to the domaine’s mastery, offering a more immediate but no less profound expression of their craft.
What the critics say:
"Valbuena 5 used to be the baby Unico, and nowadays it is more like its younger brother with a lot of resemblance and just a bit less depth and tannins. Valbuena 5 comes from younger vines and sometimes different parcels from Unico. On the palate, this is more open and linear, while Unico is more profound and vertical. Notes of iron, blackberries, cedar, minerals and cocoa powder. Medium- to full-bodied with melted tannins and a long, long finish. Drinkable from 2025, but will hold for years."
"The 2020 Valbuena is from a year marked by COVID-19 and lots of rain before the harvest, which resulted in a more ethereal wine, with 14% alcohol, a pH of 3.9 and 4.45 grams of acidity. It was produced with 97% Tinto Fino and 3% Merlot, cooled down for 24 hours and then fermented with indigenous yeasts from a pied de cuve in stainless steel. It matured in barrel and oak vats during the first year, and in the second one, it aged exclusively in oak vats of different sizes, 8,500 and 21,000 liters. In 2020, the wine is finer-boned, it's more fluid, it's only medium-bodied, perhaps because of the dilution from the rain, and the tannins are fine-grained and polished, but there's less juiciness in the wine. It calls for food. With time in the glass, the wine opens up and becomes more aromatic, and it even seems to gain juiciness and change texture. This is a production of 186,286 bottles, 5,673 magnums and some larger formats. It was bottled in May 2023."
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