VEGA SICILIA Unico Gran Reserva 2013 Bottle

Description

2013 is a particularly elegant, subtle and complex Unico. This wine is a true paradox, enjoyable to drink now, but timeless when allowed to age in bottle.

97% TEMPRANILLO, 3% CABERNET SAUVIGNON
210 of the almost 1,000 hectares on the Vega Sicilia estate are used for vine growing, which include 19 different types of soil and 64 plots with very specific characteristics. The influence of the course of the Douro river and time itself have played a key role in the notable use of these soils. JAMES SUCKLING 98 Points
– "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. 97% tempranillo and 3% cabernet sauvignon. Tasted from magnum. The normal bottle will be released 2023 and the magnum in 2025. Try after 2023."

2013 is a particularly elegant, subtle and complex Unico. This wine is a true paradox, enjoyable to drink now, but timeless when allowed to age in bottle

97% TEMPRANILLO, 3% CABERNET SAUVIGNON
210 of the almost 1,000 hectares on the Vega Sicilia estate are used for vine growing, which include 19 different types of soil and 64 plots with very specific characteristics. The influence of the course of the Douro river and time itself have played a key role in the notable use of these soils.

The rainy end to the harvest left its imprint on the wine from this vintage. 2013 was a year to spend time in the vineyard, tend to it with care, and not rest on one’s laurels during harvest. The result was more elegant, subtle, and complex profile.

For the first phase of the ageing process, we used 225-litre French and American oak barrels to build structure in the wine; the second phase took place in 22,000-litre wooden vats.During this long, complex process, the wine gains endless nuance, definition, texture and depth. The incredible terroir and unique maturation process create wines of effortless ageing potential.

The Vintage
A mild winter with slightly higher temperatures and less rainfall than the year-on-year average saw budburst brought forward by seven days. However, spring rains and relatively low temperatures led to flowering and veraison occurring ten days later in the cycle compared to the previous year.Summer temperatures were normal; it was somewhat dry, with several storms that caused minimal damage. September saw normal average temperatures, but low minimums, and hence large diurnal variation.Harvest took place from the end of September through to mid-October with abundant rainfall efforts in the vineyard ensured the grapes were in perfect health and ripeness when they entered the winery

THE WINE ADVOCATE 97 points
Drink Date 2023 - 2035
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. 76,476 bottles, 3,658 magnums and some larger formats produced, the shortest crop since 2009. - Luis Gutiérrez, 31st Jan 2023

JAMES SUCKLING 98 Points
6 Sep, 2022 – 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. 97% tempranillo and 3% cabernet sauvignon. Tasted from magnum. The normal bottle will be released 2023 and the magnum in 2025. Try after 2023.

JANCIS ROBINSON 18 ++
Drink 2026 - 2050
97% Tinto Fino, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon. Cool, wet spring followed by normal summer but rain during the extended harvest (27 September to 17 October) – ‘major efforts in the vineyard ensured the grapes were in perfect health and ripeness when they entered the winery’. Yield 25.2 hl/ha. Bottled June 2019: 76,476 bottles, 3,658 magnums, 362 double magnums, 59 Impériales and 6 Salmanazars. From magnum.
Dark crimson. Intense medicinal nose. Very sharp and intense and hard work in terms of acid and tannin but very promising. Essence of Vega Sicilia.

DECANTER 93
Drinking Window: 2028 - 2050
Look out for this on release, with its typical aromatics of red berries, violets and balsamic. It’s young, no doubt, entering with redcurrant fruit and underneath a bold line of tannin. It reflects the complicated vintage, but will come through in time. Cool rainy spring, normal summer with ‘the odd storm’, before a rainy end to the harvest. Yield 25.2hl/ha. Aged one year in new barrels, six months in used barrels, then 42 months in large-format vats. 76,476 bottles, 3,658 magnums, 362 double magnums, 59 Imperials and six Salmanazars. Tasted from magnum. - Sarah Jane Evans MW, (at Vega Sicilia anniversary tasting, 06 Sep 2022) Part of Vega Sicilia Único: anniversary vertical tasting of 40 vintages.