The 2025 Vega Sicilia Collection

Today sees the launch of the new Unico, Valbuena and Alion from Vega Sicilia, arguably Spain’s most celebrated producer. Prized for its consistency and First Growth equivalent quality, Vega Sicilia produces Spain’s most collectible and iconic wines.

Unico is the flagship, legendary wine of the estate, produced from the best grapes in the finest parcels of their 210ha of vineyards, boasting 19 different soil types. Unico, literally meaning “unique”, has one of the longest élevage periods of any wine at a staggering ten years between vintage and release, in a combination of French and American 225L oak barrels, the latter made in their own on-site cooperage, and 20,000 litre wooden vats. The 2015 spent five years in wood and five years in bottle before release. The estate describes 2015 as being broadly warm and relatively easy, praising “exceptional summer conditions”, which prompted an early harvest with all the requisite ripeness and concentration. “The result is a wine that is expressive, powerful, and elegant, with exceptional potential for long-term ageing.”

Where Unico requires time and patience, Valbuena’s purity and exuberance shines in youth, with luxurious cocoa-nib, light-toast, red fruits, spice and fluidity. Released after five years as opposed to Unico’s ten, Valbuena is an estate wine that is in many ways a baby-Unico. It rarely disappoints. Alion, which is blended from plots scattered across the Ribera del Duero valley, represents the region at large, and continues to benefit from the move towards larger oak foudrés for ageing, resulting in a more elegant style nowadays than in the past. Luis Gutierrez describes the 2021 as “a year to remember” and “one of the best in recent times”.

The 2015 Único comes from a year with a fast ripening, and they had to harvest early to keep the crunchiness of the fruit. This was the first harvest produced 100% by winemaker Gonzalo Iturriaga. The aging was five years in oak, one and a half years in barrels and three and a half years in oak vats. It's a big year, produced with 96% Tinto Fino and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon. It's ripe, with 14.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.88 and 4.8 grams of acidity. The grapes are cooled down for one day, the bunches are selected and then fermented with a pied de cuve in vats. It's a ripe and concentrated vintage, classical modern Vega Sicilia nose, expressive, aromatic and open, with notes of dark cherries, spice, cigar box and a medium to full-bodied palate with abundant fine-grained tannins, with good balance and the rustic elegance of the best Ribera del Duero. In 2015, they produced 84,184 bottles, 3,645 magnums and some larger formats, less than 2014, which was the largest production of Único ever. It was bottled in May 2021. – 97pts, Luis Gutierrez, The Wine Advocate.