Unico, Ribera del Duero, 2016
Feels nimbler yet more delicate than Valbuena. Violets and brambles on the nose then slate and liquorice imbued blackcurrant, redcurrant and cranberry notes. On the mid palate there is a swell of sour cherry and just ripe red plum. This is so ethereal, partly due to the tension and freshness the acidity brings. It is rugged, of the earth, unaltered, pure and beautifully streamlined, with an effortless grace. It drinks more like grand cru Burgundy than Ribero. It doesn’t have the weight or concentration of previous vintages, but this is not a negative, instead it is sophisticated, detailed and supremely intricate. Tobacco leaf, cigar box and olive brine all mingle on the endless finish. I had lofty expectations; they were met and surpassed. This is a special wine.
critic reviews
The 2016 Único is perfumed and elegant, showcasing a very good vintage in the region. Winemaker Gonzalo Iturriaga started in 2015—a powerful year—and he remembers 2016 as a very balanced year, with higher yields and finer-boned wines. The winter was mild, and there was a cooler-than-average spring and a warm summer. September was dry, which provided healthy grapes and balanced ripening. The harvest started on the 22nd of September and finished on the 11th of October. The wine is 96% Tinto Fino and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 14.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.82 and 4.8 grams of acidity. It has the old Vega perfume: intoxicating, complex and nuanced, full of personality, and it has a very energetic palate, vibrant and fresh, not lacking power but with lots of elegance. The wine is released 10 years after the harvest, combining time in new and used American and French oak barrels and 20,000-liter oak vats, and it obviously spends plenty of time in bottle. This is a monumental vintage of Único. A total of 92,292 bottles, 3,695 magnums and some larger formats were produced. It was bottled in May 2022.