Vega-Sicilia

OLD WORLD Top 100 Wineries PABLO ALVAREZ the goats that provide manure for Macias’s compost recipe. Vega-Sicilia (Alvarez stopped using herbicides and chemical fertilizers at the estate in 1983.) Aged for three years, the compost SPAIN | RIBERA DEL DUERO helps lower the pH in the soil, allowing the vine roots to Ribera del Duero’s top estate continues to outpace access the iron and other nutrients, sustaining their energy tradition, sustaining ancient vines for future great wines. into old age. Aside from the ancients at the top of the hill, most of the vines at Vega-Sicilia are 40 years old, with some plant- VEGA-SICILIA WAITS TEN YEARS TO RELEASE Unico. It’s a tra- ings 60 and 80 years old. Under the stewardship of Alva- dition of Old Spain, as is the blending of vintages for the rez and Macias, those vines continue to produce some of estate’s top wine, Reserva Especial. Yet, the vineyard was a the greatest and longest-lived wines in Spain. —J.G. radical concept when Don Eloy Lacanda Chavez planted it in 1864, mixing the local tinto fi no with cabernet sauvignon, merlot and malbec from Bordeaux. The estate later received Ribera del Duero Unico Reserva Especial ($700, 96 a dispensation from the Agricultural Minister of Spain to points) Gonzalo Iturriaga heads up Vega-Sicilia’s team of fi ve import a host of exotic varieties; 23 still grow at the top of winemakers, which begins to blend lots of Unico in the sixth Vega Sicilia’s vineyard, now 120 years old. year of aging. This 2020 release includes wines harvested in 2008, 2009 and 2010, a fresh, brisk blend with deep bass In fact, Pablo Alvarez and his team at Vega-Sicilia spend notes of mushrooms and leather in contrast to the scents more time looking ahead than looking back. Those old vines of rose petals and black plums that rise in dynamic fl avor FOUNDED: are research subjects in a variety of studies, led by Enrique complexity. It lasts with a quiet red-fruit glow, capturing the 1864 Macias in cooperation with IMIDRA, an agricultural institute in essence of Ribera del Duero in its austerity and grace. OWNERS: Madrid. Among his goals, he hopes to learn how some of these The Alvarez family ancient varieties produce ripe fruit at lower alcohol, or resist 2015 Ribera del Duero Valbuena 5 ($200, 94 points) WINEMAKER: Three-fi ft hs of the vineyards at Vega-Sicilia are devoted to Val- mildew, or sustain nutrition from the soils, whether through Gonzalo Iturriaga buena, the vines planted on colluvial soils at the base of the VITICULTURIST: their own roots or imported rootstocks, and whether the fl ow hill. Though the wine is generously oaked, its elegance gives it Enrique Macías of nutrients is inhibited by a graft or a pruning scar. a traditional feel, its fruit tannins equal to the oak tannins, the ACRES OWNED: The vines for Unico and Reserva Especial grow at the top of fl avors lasting on licorice, warm purple plum and bright notes 371 a north-facing hill, at the edge of what was once a lake, now a of strawberry tops. A classic vintage of Valbuena. ANNUAL large basin of arcilla margas, a clay and limestone soil, here PRODUCTION: 2010 Ribera del Duero Unico ($540, 93 points) glinting with crystalized gypsum. Lower down, across the As meaty 26,250 cases and gamey as dry-aged fi let mignon, this is a complex and Duero River, the team is planting 500,000 oak trees to harvest ESTATE GROWN: sophisticated vintage of Unico. The wine layers fl avors of cran- 100% for barrels 60 years from now, and 70,000 cork trees, which will berry, fi g and black mushroom into its sleek richness and IMPORTER: start providing cork for their wines in 12 years. There are also power while the structure remains tight as a drum. Built for the Europvin USA, walnut and cherry groves that feed the local wildlife, including long haul. Van Nuys, CA WINE & SPIRITS BUYING GUIDE 2021 71 .

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