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  • Country ranking ?

    107
  • Producer ranking ?

    36
  • Decanting time

    3h
  • When to drink

    now to 2035
  • Food Pairing

    Skirt Steak with Pomegranate Sauce

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Parker: The 1999 Unico delivers an ethereal bouquet of smoke, pencil lead, violets, leather, incense, black cherry, and blackberry. Already complex on the palate thanks to its lengthy upbringing, this opulent wine has layers of black fruit flavor, impeccable balance, and another twenty years of life ahead. One of the perquisites of reviewing Spanish wine is the opportunity to taste the wines of Vega Sicilia once a year. The Valbuena cuvee rece...

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The Story

Of the 1,000 hectares making up the Vega Sicilia estate, 210 are used for wine growing, and there are 19 soil-types divided for management purposes into 52 plots with very specific characteristics. The influence of the flow of the river Duero and the passage of time have been vital in forming these soils.

70 of these hectares are employed to produce Unico. A unique, magical estate which, along with extraordinary management of the vineyard, ...

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Wine Information

UNICO 1999 / 90%TINTO FINO, 10%CABERNET SAUVIGNON.
Once the process of fermentation had been completed, the wine remained in large-capacity wooden vats for 21 months. It then matured for 20 months in new casks, 17months in semi-new casks and 24 months in large-capacity wooden vats. The remaining time was spent in bottle until being released in 2009.

96.159 Bordeaux bottles, 2.596 Magnum and 157 Double Magnum.

11th October. Intense rains...

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Average Bottle Price

2015 2013 2010
309€ +24.1% 249€ +18.0% 211€

This data comes from the FINE Auction Index, a composite of average prices for wines sold at commercial auctions in 20 countries. The average prices from each year have been collected since 1990. This chart plots the index value of the average price of the wines.

Tasting note

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Written Notes

Ruby. Blackberries, vanilla and spices, dark fruits, liquorice, intense nose, spicy. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, anise, liquorice and spices, blackberries, dates and figs, just showing more age. 92

  • 92p

Vega Sicilia Unico 1999/ Psychologically very tough harvest. They started to pick on 10 Oct but had to stop when it rained heavily on 12 Oct. Temperatures fell. We went through the vineyard to tidy up to avoid rot. Started picking again 1-10 Nov, one of the latest harvests ever which cost them a third of production. Confident that their 1999 is the best in the region in terms of ageing potential. Not yet ready. With 1998 it suffers from misunderstanding because when they were bottled they were pretty brutal and austere but both wines are now less tense (stark contrast to the more generous 2005 and 2004 which are arguably less representative of our region). Dark ruby. Mellow on the nose smells much more evolved than the 2000. Good freshness and tightness. Lots of acidity and balsamic notes on the finish. Just starting to charm though it seems to have the structure for a much longer life. 17.5 points

  • 91p

Dark garnet red colour with almost black core. Excellent nose displaying hints of ripe fruit, gingerbread spices and roasted aromas. Excellent length on the palate with youthful character and promising potential.

  • 92p
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Information

Origin

Valbuena, Ribera el Duero

Vintage Quality

Excellent

Value For Money

Very good

Investment potential

Good

Fake factory

None
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