Unico, Vega Sicilia 2006

Incredibly floral and beautiful with dark berry, spice, cedar and mint. Chinese plums. Asian spices. Bark. Tea. Full body, dense and so soft and complex. The finish goes on for minutes. Endless and fine. January 2018 release. This reminds me of the gorgeous 1991 or 1964. Drink forever. A wine that you want to spend time with.

I tasted the 2006 Único again, and it's clearly the best Único produced in the last few years, to which I don't find much logic, as on paper 2004 and 2005 were better years in Ribera del Duero. However it is, the 2006 is a fantastic modern Vega Sicilia in the making, powerful and clean, still very young and marked by the élevage with a whiff of American oak and a creamy texture in the palate. It should age very well for a very long time. I'd wait to pull the cork, even if it's drinkable and quite showy already. This is the current vintage in 2018, even if the 2007 and 2008 were released before it and even before the 2005. In 2019 they will release the 2009. 93,993 bottles, 2,552 magnums, 165 double magnums and six imperials were produced. Drink 2020-2035.

Dense dark garnet with some evolution at the rim. Now this is a mature nose! With notes of menthol. Dry, appetising, rather majestic finish. Very much a food wine with a slight lack of juice in the middle. Kick of freshness and lift on the mid palate. Drink 2023-2050.

The iconic wine from Vega Sicilia in the market in 2018 is the 2006 Único, which was released after the sale of the 2007 and 2008 vintages because they thought it needed more time in bottle. 2006 was an early vintage, with the harvest beginning the 9th of September. This year the bottled blend is 94% Tinto Fino, the local strain of Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero, with 6% Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine has a long élevage, around ten years split between new and old barriques (French and American), in 20,000-liter oak vats and bottle. It had a very developed and classical nose, very expressive, ripe and exuberant with an herbal twist, combining classical and modern characteristics and with a good balance between youth and development. It's a more classical expression of the Vega Sicilia character, closer to the wines from yesteryear than the last few vintages. It has to be one of the best recent vintages of Único, for me clearly better than 2005. This 2006 was bottled in June 2012. 93,993 bottles, 2,552 magnums, 165 double magnums and six imperials were produced. Drink 2018-2031.