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Spec sheet

TypeRed wine
Region
Grapes
Producer
AllergensContains sulfites
Alcohol contenti14.5%
Production150,650 bottles

The wine

Valbuena, despite its long ageing in cellar, is Vega Sicilia's 'youngest' wine. Although having the same high quality features as its exceptional cellar companions, the emblematic Único and Único Reserva Especial, Valbuena exhibits a character of its own, with an impressive aromatic richness and a magnificent harmony between modernity and tradition. A wine which has great maturity, with well-handled oak and a complex connection between vinosity and fruitiness.

Valbuena is made from the Tinto Fino variety, together with a small proportion of Merlot; it ferments with native yeasts and it's matured for five years —hence its name— in containers of different capacities (from 225-litre barrels to 20,000-litre vats), types and ages. A total of three years in oak and two in bottle; a very special process for a very special wine.

The Tempranillo (or Tinto Fino) grapes come from gently-sloping hillsides, with a high expression soil that's based on limestone in Valbuena de Duero. In the vineyard, green pruning is carried out methodically in order to obtain grapes which are concentrated and full of character. Once inside the winery, the aim is to maintain a constant style in its production process so that the wine expresses the singularity of each vintage and all the character of this magnificent and austere terroir.

The result is always sublime. A delightful red wine, a burgundy-red colour with glints of very intense ruby, A complex nose with a perfect balance between the aromas derived from the superb use of oak and the perfect ripeness of exceptional grapes. Wild strawberries, smoke, pencil lead, spices, (peppers and vanilla), and a balsamic note, all becoming more noticeable after a while in the glass and a mystic element which seems inherent in Vega Sicilia wines. On the palate, its mouthfeel is captivating; it's silky and expressive, powerful and balanced, individual and refined. It makes its exit without really going, leaving behind an almost ever-lasting flourish of elegance.

NOTE: Decanting is recommended for between two and three hours before serving.

Drinking and storing

Serve between 16ºC and 18ºC

Food pairing

Roast lamb / Oven-cooked game meat / Roast suckling pig

Ratings and awards

201995 PK
201896 PK96 SK
201796 PK96 SK
201696 PK
201596 PK
201496 PK95 PN96 SK
PK: ParkerPN: PeñínSK: Suckling

Wine critics reviewsReviews by Parker

The 2018 Valbuena comes from a cooler vintage with good yields that required sorting and selecting in search of a happy and vertical version of Valbuena, pushing a little more and giving the wine a little more oak, especially American (5%). It was produced with 96% Tinto Fino and 4% Merlot that went through a three- to four-day cold soak and fermented with indigenous yeasts followed by malolactic in stainless steel. The élevage was in new and used 225-liter oak barrels and 21,000-liter oak vats. It has 14.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.8 and 4.78 grams of acidity (tartaric), so it's ripe and with mellow acidity that gives it a mellow mouthfeel. This is a very spicy vintage for Valbuena, getting closer to the style of Único (while at the same time I felt the 2018 Pintia from Toro was getting closer to the aromatics of some vintages of Valbuena, like 2010). It was a late-ripening year with a tendency toward freshness in the wines. The palate is medium to full-bodied, with very fine tannins that made the wine nicely textured and very elegant. There is a lot of regularity in the Valbuena of the last few years, here with more tension and freshness of the 2017, a little more balsamic even. 180,580 bottles, 5,528 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in May 2021.

— Luis Gutiérrez (31/01/2023)Robert Parker Wine Advocate Vintage 2018 - 96 PARKER

Customer reviews

4.9/5
26 reviews
Vintage:

The winery

Bodegas Vega Sicilia

Bodegas Vega Sicilia

Founded in 1864 by Eloy Lecanda and run today by the Álvarez family, Vega Sicilia is the most emblematic winery in Spain. It is in fact one of the oldest in Spain and undoubtedly one of the best in the world. Located in Valbuena de Duero, its name comes from ‘vega’, the Spanish word to describe the low-lying fertile land beside the Duero River, and a phonetic deformation of Cecilia, as the estate was originally known as Coto de Santa Cecilia.  Ever...

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