Vega Sicilia Unico Ribera del Duero 2016

100 points Jeb Dunnuck

Aged five years in oak and another five in bottle, the 2016 Unico is made from a blend of estate parcels, the blend decided after one year in barrel. The producer believes that vintages that end in the number 6 tend to be exceptional, producing its top three years since 2000. This is no exception. Plush, with underlying grip, the wine is 96% Tempranillo with 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, an explosive, full-bodied exploration of dense red fruit, tension, and intensity that’s juicy, tense, and energetic. There’s a tremendous amount of elegance and power vying for equal attention. These wines live up to every inch of hype and acclaim. It’s drinking beautifully already and should sing easily another 40-50 years.

99 points Wine Advocate
The 2016 Único was 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 the 22nd of September and finished the 11th of October. The bottled 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 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

PRODUCT DETAILS

• SKUPJ03128
• TypeRed Wine
• Sub-TypeRed Blend
• CountrySpain
• RegionRibera del Duero
• Size750mL
• Vintage2016

RATINGS & AWARDS

• JD 100