Vega Sicilia Unico Vertical Tasting 13 vintages

I attended a portion of The Great Wine Weekend in Miami and the Vega Sicilia Unico vertical tasting was the finale of what was from all accounts and great weekend. This tasting was presided over by Pablo Alvarez, General Mgr and Part Owners of this storied producer. Also presiding over the tasting was Clive Coates, who has been presiding over most of the tasting that weekend.

I had high hopes for this tasting as I am a very big fan of this producer and I truly viewed this as one of those once in a lifetime wine events that is really hard to put a price tag on. It was worth the price of admission for me and I got to taste some very profound wines, while listening to Mr. Alvarez discuss the vineyards, the grape selection process and the overall throught process that goes into making these great wines.

The first flight started at 10 am and consisted of another label by Boegas Vega Sicilia. My tasting notes were done at the time of the tasting and while it is not the most professional of notes in the true sense, it does give you “color” on the wine itself.

Flight 1:

These wines were delicious in their own right. the 2000 was the only vintage that wasn’t really my cup of tea so to speak. Per Pablo, These wines are about 90% Tempranillo and about 10% Merlot. Wines can and should last 15-20 years.

2005 Valbuena - Light, Tannic , A bit tart, young, nice finish for a young wine. This one should sleep for 5-7 years. My #3 of the flight

2004 Valbuena - Perfumed nose, fruity , good finish. Bigger than than 05, I picture this paired with veal. This can easily improve over next 10 years. my #2 of the flight

2001 Valbuena - Big/Huge Nose, tannins seem rounded out , wine appears ready for business, fruit forward ever so slightly, but not in an obnoxious way. MY #1 Wine of the flight.

2000 - subdued nose, not as big as the other vintages. lighter, slightly more elegance. Didn’t seem to have the same stuffing as the other three vintages. My #4 of the flight. Wasn’t impressed with this wine,

Flight 2:

Per Mr. Alvarez Unico is 85%-95% Tempranillo, the rest being Cabernet

2002 Unico - Not released year, anticipated release 2012. Quite alcoholic on the nose, a bit woody, not overly tannic, Flavors need more integration but youth is very evident and needs time to mature . This is a very nice wine, 45+ sec. finish. My #3 of the flight

2000 Unico - Large production per Mr. Alvarez, Graphite, lead pencil, a bit of sweetness, just wonderful. LONG finish, coats the mouth , one of many times “I licked my chops” this day. Very nice. My #2 of the flight.

1999 Unico - Ligher than 2000. Short finish, not necessarily my preference in flavor profile for Unico. I much prefer 2000 and 2002. Just doesn’t seem to ahve the same “oomph” as the other vintages. My #4 of the flight

1998 Unico - Subdued nose compared to the others, but nice perfumed scent, a bit sweet. This wine was more full bodies than the previous three vintages , dominated by pencil lead, a bit of wet earth and reminded me of an old leather chair in my mouth, I loved this wine, it was one of the first WOW wines of tasting. My WOTF, #1 by a long shot. Simply great. I was getting a big smile on my face, knowing what was to come. The hits just got better and better as the day progressed.

Flight 3:

1996 Unico - An absolutely wonderful nose, win immediately appeared young a tannic. I would say this wine is not ready yeat. You can tell this is going to be be a great wine down the road. The graphite, lead and leather I tasted in previous vintages also appears here. It seems to be a common denominator amongt some of the “younger” vintages of Uncio. The finish was 45 sec plus and all the elements of a great wine is in this bottle. It just need another 10 plus years to show its full potential in my opinion. My #4 of the flight.

1994 Unico - Still youthful, not quite ready, the mid palate was huge, coating my mouth, finish not as long as the 96, but this wine did seem to have more integration and I just slightly preferred it to the 96. My #3 of the flight.

1987 Unico - This was a HOLY SH*T WINE for me personally. This was by far the best Unico so far, it blew me away. The nose took over my senses, I moaned and the gentleman next to me, looked over and said “almost better than sex”. I hate to almost say , he was right. It was unreal, Everything appeared to be in concert with each other. Tannins slightly evident, but resolved enough to provide a sublime experience…this was just yet another preview of what was to come. At the time , this was the best for me…until the next glass.

1982 Unico - NOSE NOSE NOSE - PERFUME , enveloped your nostrils and took ownership of it. I thought I died and went to heaven. A monumental vintage of this wine, at the time I did not know how highly regarded this vintage is of this wine. This was almost a perfect wine. I called it a “F*ck Me Running Wine”. Truly flirted with perfection. I was in a very happy place at this moment #1 Wine of the Flight by a mile. This was the best wine for me , SO FAR…best yet to come.

Flight 4:

1972 Unico - Here you really start to notice a difference int he color over previous vintages. the 72 looked aged, whereas the 82 still looked youthful. Slight bricking on the edge, Wine was considerably more subdued the the 82, it wa lovely and had elegance. A silkiness to it that I enjoyed. A very very different wine than the 82, finish was very short for unico standards. Reminded me of Elizabeth Taylor and the complete opposite of Lady GaGa. Grace and class instead of pow in the face. my #5 of the flight

1970 Unico- What color on this wine! I know the reputation of this wine and I have had this vintage before. It was awesome. I call this SEEK AND DESTROY wine. Meaning seek this out at all costs if your wallet can afford it. A totally mature wine in it’s prime, elegance, grace but with power and finesse. Old leather, earthy, just a monumental wine. The finish lasted over a minute, I was just shaking my head thinking how lucky I am to be at this tasting. Everything they say about the 70 Unico is true. But it was my #3 wine of the flight (if you can believe that!).

1968 Unico - This to me, was another Holy Sh*t wine. The 70 was only slightly prefered, but not by much, I would have to say they are tied, but for me, this was another wine that flirted with perfection. The finish was like the energizer bunny, it kept going and going and going…and going. My #4 of the flight!

1962 Unico - This wine if I gave it a rating would be 99 points, it was so close to be a perfect wine, if I did not try the 53, I would say this is a 100 pt wine. the nose was sweet and perfumed, fully integrated, mature, and NOT over the hill by any stretch of the imagination. I fell in love with this wine. Just looking at the color, you know it is an old wine. Everything worked for me on this wine, completely balanced wine that really made me say WOW out loud! For 49 years, it is no where near being over the hill. This wine can live on for another decade or two easily. I loved it, just loved it…my #2 of the flight.

1953 Unico - This wine is one of the greatest wines I ever tasted. Even if I compare it to the old Bordeaux I have had over the years. This wine is right up there, if I could say a wine was perfect. It would be this one. For me it was 100 points, The best nose of them all, unreal for such an old wine. The mid palate took over my moth, I went to Unico heaven with this glass. I would take a glass of this wine over having sex. I think there is only a handful of wines that made me feel that way in my entire life. It was such a wonderful experience and it was the last wine of the day. my Wine of the Flight and my WOTN.

Overall this was a great seminar. It was worth the cost of entry and I was able to get second pours on a # of different vintages. If one wanted to educate him/herself in Vega Sicilia Unico. This would have been the Ivy league school. It was very educational and the provenance of these wines were perfect. Most came directly from the producer , with The Rare Wine Company filling in some of the blanks. Truly awesome experience. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Nice notes Alan. It is too bad I didn’t get a chance to meet you.
A really nice weekend of wine.

Wow- just incredible. Thanks for posting notes. A couple years ago I went to a tasting that went back to the '68 and '70 - one of the best tastings I’ve been to - as great as the '70 was the '68 out of mag was stunning. I wish I bought some of the older vintages 5-6 years ago before the prices soared. I guess I will just have to be patient with the more recent vintages. Of the '94, '96 and '98, thus far my favorite is the '94, but will have to give them a decade.

Unico 1, Sex 0. Thanks for the notes Alan; hard to find comparative notes on Unico as I always had a piqued interest in the hype surrounding it but could never muster enough gumption to throw down for a bottle. Served blind could you guess the typicity in the younger or older wines? Clearly Spanish?

F

If I was served blind, I would never guess that the 82 and 87 were, well 82 and 87, I would have certainly guessed it was a much younger wine. Once we got to the 70’s and 60’s there was no mistake that the wine was of older vintages. The color and complete integration of all it’s components would have been a giveaway.

I will also say that the 53 and 62 were definitely mature wines, but I would have thought 1970’s, not early 50’s an early 60’s. The Unico’s in general appeared to be quite long lived wines. None of the wines we had seemed “tired” or past it’s peak. A real testament to the producer. If I had to taste blind…the older wines to me, could have been mistaken for an old Barolo, but missing that usual “tar” taste that Barolo has been known for. I don’t think my taste buds would have guessed tempranillo.