Vega Sicilia Unico “2013” 750ml

This has a polished and complex nose of poached plums, dark cherries, tea leaves, graphite, milk chocolate and a touch of caramel. It’s medium-to full-bodied with firm yet creamy tannins. Caressing, seductive and ripe, but with underlying freshness.

I had already tasted the 2013 Único from magnum in a vertical tasting of all the magnums ever produced and was quite impressed by it (and the still unreleased 2014 that should be available in 2024). 2013 saw a rainy harvest, and the wine is subtle, elegant and fresh, complex, silky and with precision. The wine matured in 225-liter barrels in an initial phase and then in 22,000-liter oak vats until it was bottled in June 2019. This year, the final blend was 97% Tinto Fino and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon with a little less alcohol, 14%, and a pH of 3.78 and 5.2 grams of acidity, fresh and balanced, more elegant and subtler. Único often transcends the character of the vintage and doesn't follow the norm in the region, and the 2013 is a good example of that. It was a very rainy and complicated vintage; they harvested quite quickly to avoid botrytis, and while other people waited for concentration, they did not, and their approach clearly paid back. It's aromatic and floral, less dense than the 2012, subtler, more expressive and more elegant. It's clean and fresh, tasty, with very fine tannins. It's a big surprise for the vintage and one of the finest Únicos in the last few years.

Rich and savory at first, with hints of leather, mesquite smoke and fresh earth that transition to underscore the range of black plum, dried mint, spice box and graphite flavors. Firm, chalky tannins are wrapped in a finely woven profile, showing a sense of finesse and overall balance through to the lasting finish. Tinto Fino and Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now through 2035.

The 2013 season was relatively mild and dry, at least until harvest, when the rains came on from the end of September through mid-October. The 100 acres of vines for Unico grow on a north-facing hillside, the remnants of an ancient lake bed, its sediments combining sand and clay flecked with crystallized gypsum. The soil’s ability to manage water, along with the vines’ adaptation to the site for 40, 60 or 80 years, delivered a beautiful 2013, a silken pleasure, fragrant with fresh fruit and violet scents. The lasting impression is complex, melding notes of pipe tobacco, black-mushroom umami, red currant, red meat and flamed orange peel. The dry tannins take the gentle well of dark fruits toward tension in the end, making this a keeper.