Community Tasting Note

• Juliansi Does not like this wine: 85 points

  August 19, 2022 - Sometimes one just had great expectations for a wine.. and can't help but feel dissapointed. After all Unico is Vega Sicilia's flagship, its meant to be a super age worthy wine for the ages.. and this 1998 is supposedly a RP98 pointer!
  
  Not to mention we paid USD 500 for the privilege of popping this at the restaurant.. so we had the right to expect so much more from what is one of my grail wines!!
  
  Instead, we found the wine closed, tight, and slightly diluted and disjointed. Suspect provenance or some poor storage over the 24 years since it left Ribera del Duero 🇪🇸? Sold and served at ATAS in RuMa KL.
  
  Nose indistinct, black fruits and cherry palate and long finish!
  
  Unico goes through what is probably the world's longest ageing of a red wine, almost 10 years between wood and bottle. How unique is that!
  
  This 1998 Unico is made from 92% Tempranillo and an untypically high 8% Cab Sauv.
  
  Even though its already 24 years old, experts describe this as a wine you could enjoy for over 50 years!
  
  The muted palate was one thing, but what frustrated me the most was not getting those intoxicating aromas associated with an aged Unico.
  
  @Mika Tyson Teau, @Joe Yee Wong, @Eddie Cheah and I shared this bottle on the occasion of Joe's birthday celebration in the heart of Kuala Lumpur 🇲🇾
  
  We looked so hard for the violet flowers and magical mouthfeel but it was not to be found.. the hunt for a moment when Unico mesmerises and excites is still on!
  
  We tried to decant this for over 3 hours but it only evolved marginally better, and we never got the unique coconut nose or notes, nor the sexy mouthfeel or luscious fruits... Definitely did not get the depth and complexity expected of such a spectacular Wine and strong vintage too.
  
  Dissapointed tremendously.. all of us were!
  
  ATAS at RuMa hotel in KL, Malaysia - 19 Aug 2022

  1 person found this helpful 2,724 views

5 Comments

• Goldstone commented:

  8/30/22, 5:30 AM - Hi Julian, the problem is that Unico of this age (which is very young in Unico terms) needs an 8-12 decant in advance of serving. I recently opened my first of a case of 1989 and, all things considered including that length of long decant, it was only just starting to show its true beauty. Cheers, Mike (from Hong Kong)

• Juliansi commented:

  8/30/22, 6:10 AM - Thanks a lot Goldstone, I still think that my displeasure with this Unico was partially provenance and also not being aged enough!!
  
  You have an amazing collection, cheers from Malaysia!

• Goldstone commented:

  8/30/22, 6:48 AM - Thanks, I've been at it a while! I visit Malaysia fairly often and have a house in Thailand, so I know the difficulty of sourcing good bottle of expensive stuff that can prove reliable to drink. It always helps to havea wealthy friend who brings the stuff in directly from France/Spain/Ital/US :)

• Juliansi commented:

  9/4/22, 10:37 PM - Goldstone / Mike HK, woww.. to have anyone hand-carry these heavy bottles all the way back from the source, is fantastic. Lucky you!!

• Juliansi commented:

  9/4/22, 10:37 PM - Goldstone / Mike HK, woww.. to have anyone hand-carry these heavy bottles all the way back from the source, is fantastic. Lucky you!!

Add a Comment