vega sicilia

black tea leaf and earthy notes. Amazing 1989 18.5 (95) 1975 18 (93) vitality for its age. Drink 2014-2024 Alc 13.5% £225 WInePro £446 Hedonism Beautiful Unico with complex layers of dried Wonderful intensity and youthfulness given its 1964 19.5 (98) tea leaves, dried flowers and herbs. This age. Impressive wine with very long length. £469-£595 Hedonism, World Wine Consultants has a sensuality despite its youth, and Classic Unico. Drink 2014-2030 Alc 13.5% Seductive with dried floral flavours and sweet persistent length. Drink 2018-2045 Alc 13.5% spices. The aromatics and profile are more floral 1974 18 (93) and sweet than many others in this decade. 1987 18.25 (94) N/A UK www.vega-sicilia.com A magnificient wine at its peak that is hardly £199 Portland Wine Co Velvety textured with dark, savoury flavours showing its age. Drink 2014-2029 Alc N/A Sweet, fragrant and opulent; seductive with and a hint of tobacco. This is a savoury, herbal generosity, depth and supple tannins. Youthful Unico but still retains its charm and unique 1962 18.5 (95) and vigorous, should open up further with an identity. Drink 2014-2029 Alc 13.5% £660 Fine & Rare extra decade in bottle. Drink 2022-2045 Alc 14% Elegant and refined with lovely firm tannins 1973 16.75 (89) and structure surrounded by layers of subtle 1986 19.5 (98) £281 Fine & Rare dried black tea leaf flavours and savoury Above: an unparalleled vertical tasting of Vega Sicilia’s Unico in Hong Kong was attended by owner Pablo Alvarez with Jeannie Cho Lee MW £989 Hedonism A lighter, weaker , this is medium herbs. Long length. Drink 2014-2027 Alc 13.5% Seductive nose with intense flavours of violet, bodied with firm tannins plus flavours that lean plum, date and sweet . This is a gorgeous, towards earthy, savoury notes. Drink 1960 16.75 (89) bottle to enjoy. Beautiful wine with great complex Unico with great intensity and depth 2014-2020 Alc N/A £478 Hedonism potential for ageing. Drink 2024-2048 Alc 14% and a very long finish. One of Unico’s best A weaker vintage with dried tobacco and tea . Drink 2016-2050 Alc 13.5% 1972 17 (90) leaf dominating the flavours. Holding up well Vega Sicilia: 1998 19.25 (97) £291 Fine & Rare but starting to fade. Drink 2014-2018 Alc 14% £2,477 (jeroboam) Hedonism 1985 17.75 (92) Beautiful perfume of dried tea leaves, dried Youthful nose with primary fruit and sweet £235 Huntsworth Wine flowers and savoury herbs. Lacks the depth of 1957 18 (93) oak, the palate reveals the wine’s incredible Tannic, tightly wound with blackberry and the best years but still intense and offers great N/A UK www.vega-sicilia.com intensity and depth. Great potential to age cocoa flavours. There is density and power drinking pleasure. Drink 2014-2024 Alc N/A Restrained flavours with roasted herbs and 35 vintages of Unico Drink beautifully. 2026-2048 Alc 13.5 here with tannins that should soften after more earthy flavours. This is a firm, tightly wound time in bottle. Drink 2017-2035 Alc 13.5% 1970 19 (96) Unico with savoury characters and a fairly long Unico celebrated its 150th birthday with a vertical tasting 1996 18.5 (95) £780 Hedonism finish. Drink 2014-2020 Alc N/A stretching back to 1941. Jeannie Cho Lee MW reports £199 The Wine Society 1983 18 (93) Layered and complex, this Unico is incredibly Tightly knit and articulate with layers of savoury, £355 Hedonism youthful given its age. Gorgeous, filled with 1953 19.25 (97) earthy and dark berry flavours. More restrained Intensely concentrated with blackberries, savoury herbs and sweet oak flavours and a £690 Hedonism Since Pablo Alvarez took over the This remarkable vertical tasting left no than some of Unico’s best vintages, but the roasted herbs and aged pu’er tea leaf notes. persistent finish. Drink 2014-2030 Alc 13% Sweet and opulent with plenty of intense management of Vega Sicilia in 1985, this doubt that Unico is not only ageworthy, intensity and depth reveals its potential over the Youthful and vigorous, this needs another 10 sweet, dried fruit notes. Seductive and sweet 150-year old winery has been going through but also highly consistent. Among the next few decades. Drink 2026-2044 Alc 13.5% years of ageing before it mellows into a classic, 1969 18.25 (94) with generosity and depth. Gorgeous, drinking a quiet revolution. Higher quality and tasted, there was only one corked elegant Unico. Drink 2022-2038 Alc 13% £345 Fine & Rare beautifully now. Drink 2014-2024 Alc N/A greater consistency since the 1986 vintage and one tired bottle. Both the 1941 and 1995 17.75 (92) Coffee and roasted herb flavours with sweet is evident in its flagship wine, Unico. 1942 vintages tasted like they were frozen £265-£270 Berry Bros & Rudd, Hedonism 1982 17.75 (92) cedar notes. This is a complex, layered Unico 1948 17.75 (92) A tasting of 35 vintages of Unico in May in in time, with freshness and lovely evolved, Tannic, tightly wound Unico with lovely wood, £577 Hedonism with a meaty, generous palate. Long finish. £919 Fine & Rare Hong Kong, organised by The Fine Wine sweet flavours. All the wines were under roasted herbs and savoury spices. Great Youthful and vigorous, this wine tastes barely Drink 2014-2028 Alc N/A Tobacco, herbs and sweet spices on the nose Experience, proved that Unico is among their original cork and were ex-cellar. concentration with focus and firm tannins, and 20 years old. Primary dark fruits and tobacco followed by firm tannins and quite a tannic the most ageworthy red wines in the Unico’s personality shines through in a long finish. Wait at least a decade to enjoy leaves dominate with firm tannins and an 1968 18 (93) grip. Less sweet and more savoury with dried world, with a lifespan of 40 to 80 years. all the vintages – that blend of ripeness this wine. Drink 2024-2040 Alc 14% earthy finish. Drink 2014-2034 Alc 13.5% £1,310 Hedonism tea leaf character. Drink 2014-2020 Alc N/A After the Alvarez family purchased the contrasted with restraint; freshness and Savoury and restrained, this Unico is less property in 1982, it introduced greater generosity; the combination of dried black 1994 19 (96) 1980 18.25 (94) sweet and expressive than the 1966 or the 1942 19.25 (97) precision in the , the winery and tea leaf, sweet ripe blackberries and £272 Fine & Rare £315 Fine & Rare 1964. Closed and quite tightly wound with firm £962 Fine & Rare the wines. Plots are meticulously sub- roasted herb flavours. Unico only starts to Complex, with delicate flavours. Extremely Intense and powerful at 34 years of age, this is tannins and black tea leaves on the palate. Lovely silky texture on this 72-year-old wine divided by soil and microclimate, with peak at around 30 years of age, and it’s youthful and will bloom with more time in an impressive Unico with notes of dried Drinking well now. Drink 2014-2024 Alc 13.5% under its original cork. Dried autumn leaves corresponding vats – 54 stainless steel and worth the wait, as your patience will be bottle. Classic Unico flavours of pu’er (Chinese, blackberries, dates and white tea leaf flavours. accented with sweet oak and vanilla. Incredibly 19 wood – that are housed in a high-tech, well rewarded. dark) tea leaves and tobacco with sweet oak Long finish. Drink 2014-2030 Alc 13.5% 1967 17.5 (91) fresh and lively; impressive. Drink 2014-2023 gravity-flow winery. Fewer than 8,000 cases lurking behind. Drink 2024-2045 Alc 13.5% £504 Hedonism Alc N/A of Unico are produced every year and the 2004 17.75/20pts (92/100pts) 1979 17.5 (91) Savoury and herbal with a lean palate, this is wine is released only after 10 years of £199-£289 Bancroft, Berry Bros & Rudd, Corney & 1991 19.25 (97) £275 Christopher Keiller quite thin. Wonderfully supple and great with 1941 18.25 (94) ageing: seven years in wood, including Barrow, Goedhuis & Co, Hedonism, Jeroboams, £220 WInePro Earthy, dark mushroom, forest notes with food to enjoy now. Drink 2014-2020 Alc N/A £704 Fine & Rare American oak barriques made by in-house Justerini & Brooks, Latimer Vintners, Waitrose Cellar Gorgeous composition; firm tannins, layers of lovely dried red berries in the background. Savoury herbs with sweet cedar flavours coopers, and three years in bottle. Approachable and sweet, with dried prunes flavours and nuanced detail even in its youth. Tannic and tightly wound, this wine will benefit 1966 18.25 (94) mingle in this elegant wine under its original The 1990s saw changes in the style of and dates on the palate plus a hint of mocha. Firm, supple tannins, intensity and focus. from at least a few hours of decanting. £376 Fine & Rare cork. Classic dried tea leaf notes of Unico with Unico, making it more approachable at a Full bodied, generous and very ripe, this is a Beautifully crafted. Drink 2014-2044 Alc 14% Drink 2014-2021 Alc 13.5% Beautiful, with sweet oak and dried red berries firm tannins. Still vibrant and holding up well. younger age, with a stronger focus on voluptuous, richer style than the Unicos of the on the nose. Palate offers layers of delicate, Impressive for a 73-year-old wine. Drink . The modern blend is past. Drink 2026-2045 Alcohol 14% 1990 18 (93) 1976 16.5 (88) persistent flavours and long length. A great 2014-2021 Alc N/A D approximately 80-90% Tempranillo with £233 Hennings £422 Hedonism Unico at its peak. Drink 2014-2028 Alc N/A the rest composed of ; 1999 18 (93) Savoury with dried black tea leaves, tobacco A weaker Unico with quite thin flavours. This For full details of UK stockists, see p90 and are no longer used. In £679 (magnum) Hedonism and firm tannins. Still tightly knit – will benefit bottle is not in perfect condition, with oxidised 1965 17.5 (91) the 1980s and 1970s, Tempranillo made Tannic and young with savoury herbs and from at least 4-6 more years in bottle. Youthful notes and unfresh flavours. Finish is dry and £381 Hedonism Jeannie Cho Lee MW is co-chair of the up between 60-70%. sweet spices. Will need at least a decade in and tightly wound. Drink 2019-2034 Alc 13.5% quite modest. Drink 2014-2018 Alc 13.5% Restrained and savoury with roasted herbs, Asia Wine Awards

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