2002 Vega Sicilia Unico

This is wonderfully open on the palate with a delicious, savory array of cloves, charcoal, currants, stewed dark fruit, balsamic and some grilled meat. Lightly grainy tannins. Pure dark fruit underpinned by roasted tobacco leaves. Chewy at the end. 95% tempranillo and 5% cabernet sauvignon. Tasted from magnum. Drink or hold.

95% Tinto Fino, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Very cold winter with frequent frosts and ‘unstable’ weather at harvest (5 October) – low volume. 17 months in large-capacity wooden vats, then 23 months in new barrels, 10 months in second-use barrels and 20 months in large-capacity wooden vats. Release in 2012. 42,932 bottles, 2,540 magnums, 155 double magnums and four Impériales. From magnum. Evolved garnet colour. Heady, sweet, liquorice nose. Perhaps the first of these wines that seems resolved on the nose. Really rich and rewarding with nuance and a beginning, middle and end. Light but not disagreeable dustiness on the end. Very comfortable and confident. Relaxed! Perhaps not one of the flashiest vintages but giving huge pleasure.

Bright ruby. Smoky, floral-accented aromas of redcurrant, cherry pit and plum, with a peppery topnote. Sweet and open-knit, offering musky red fruit and floral pastille flavors and notes of mocha and succulent herbs. Shows very good depth and power for the vintage, finishing smooth, sweet and long. Not the greatest Vega by any means but highly successful for 2002, and you can actually enjoy it right now.