Bodegas Vega Sicilia, Reserva Especial, Ribera del Duero, 2025 Release, nv
Darker and more concentrated than Unico 2016. You can feel the power and warmth of the 2011, 2012 and 2014 vintages. Plum, blackberry and maybe just a hint of damson. Black olive tapenade and tobacco leaf. Vanilla, nutmeg and clove. Wild herbs, garrigue and dark wet rocks lend a salty, saline profile. More backwards, dark and brooding than Unico 2016, but still very impressive. This just needs more time to coalesce.
critic reviews
The NV Unico Reserva Especial 2023 Release is a blend produced with vintages 2009, 2011 and 2012, in search of a house style. It's a blend of Tinto Fino with some Cabernet Sauvignon with 14% alcohol, a pH of 3.85 and 5.2 grams of acidity (measured in tartaric acid per liter of wine); so, it's a slightly lighter version of Reserva Especial. When in theory they used three warm, ripe and powerful vintages, the blend is not excessively powerful, but the longer elevage has polished that power and delivered a classical and proportioned wine, aromatic, spicy, with the Vega nose and a velvety palate with very fine tannins and great elegance. 18,318 bottles and 233 magnums produced. It was bottled in June 2019.