Vega Sicilia Unico Reserva Especial Edición 2023

The 2023 release of this non-vintage specific red wines is a cuvée of 2009, 2011 and 2012 and is another superb release from Ribera del Duero's most celebrated bodega, making the most of a trio of very good harvests. Savoury and autumnal, this is a wine to sip by an open fire listening to good music: contemplative and refined. Marrying Tinto Fino with 6% Cabernet Sauvignon in this iteration, it's scented, sweet and balsamic, with detailed tannins, leafy tannins, supple wild strawberry fruit and an appealing volatile lift. The closest Ribera gets to a Gran Reserva Rioja in style. 2022-35

The NV Único 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 élevage 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.