1999 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único

Community Tasting Notes (69) Avg Score: 93.9 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View bigop's profile
  • Report Issue

  3/8/2024 - bigop wrote: 91 Points

  I waited quite a few years to finally open my last bottle of this Unico. Served after a 12H decant. I was hoping for quite an experience, unfortunately it didn't blow me away.
  It was elegant but lacked intensity of flavours and aromas. Decent wine really but nowhere near what its price tag would suggest.
  On its plateau I reckon.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View remyworldpeace's profile
  • Report Issue

  1/15/2024 - remyworldpeace wrote: 98 Points

  Beautiful nose of blackberry pie, some honey, sweet pastry, sweet oak, dark cherries, red fruit and some mocha. Drinking well but after 2 to 2.5 really bloomed and opened up. Dark fruit and dried berries, lovely oak, dried rose, coconut and vanilla on long finish. Another fantastic showing.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View remyworldpeace's profile
  • Report Issue

  9/15/2023 - remyworldpeace Likes this wine: 96 Points

  Potpourri, dark cherry, fig, plum, cedar, oak and tobacco leaf on nose and palate. Initial acidity really softened up to show a lovely, deep and rounded wine with many layers of complexity. Initially showing a touch of soy sauce but that dissipated and was replaced by a pleasing umami note and more dark fruit.
  
  Took two hours in the decanter to finally bloom and lose some of the astringency initially showing (I almost thought this was heat damaged initially!) but was lovely when it finally opened up!

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Cailles's profile
  • Report Issue

  9/11/2023 - Cailles wrote: 94 Points

  Vega Sicilia Unico Vertical: 10x Vega Sicilia Unico (1985-2006). 7 vintages of Gran Reserva, 3x Reserva Especial. A few conclusions: A) The quality was high in all bottles. Increased complexity and precision, a fine structural framework with silky tannins, pronounced acidity and very good balance. B) The family resemblance across all bottles is high. Unico has a strong and unique DNA with the freshness and tension of a good Bordeaux combined with the softness and silkiness of Tempranillo and a unique flavor profile with lots of fresh blueberries, garrigue, bacon and gentle coffee notes. C) Maturity was well controlled, even in hot years. No hint of over-ripeness. D) The wines are meant to age and certainly need almost 20 years before reaching a first drinking window. The 30 year old bottles seemed young and only the 40 year old ones showed tertiary aromas. E) The quality was high across the board with no weak bottles, but the best wines were the tertiary 1985 (96pts), 1986 (97pts) and 1987 (95pts). The 2006 (95pts) is very promising.
  
  TN: From magnum. At first a bit wild and unbalanced. With time it got clear, clean and more balanced. Lots of dark berries and herbal notes, some meaty, bacon fat scents and some coffee notes. Still quite primary but well balanced and quite layered. High precision. This was young and a tad grippy, very fresh. I guess this should easily get to the 95+pts category with a bit of additional age.
  
  Decanting: This bottle was not decanted. It needed a lot of swirling in the glass to open up. I guess, ideally this needs two, three hours in a decanter.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View remyworldpeace's profile
  • Report Issue

  9/5/2023 - remyworldpeace wrote: 93 Points

  Nose of plum, soy sauce and sweet oak. Dark cherry, plum, oak. Decent concentration but slightly tart acidity. Felt almost past its peak. While not bad, this didn't show the excellence, depth and profound complexity of other examples tasted - sadly!
  
  NB this was from the same case as bottles which were very high scoring - up to 99pts (see my other reviews). Interesting to note the bottle variation and/or how my palate tastes things on different occasions over a few years.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

View all 69 Community Tasting Notes

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.