Vega Sicilia Reserva Especial 2017 Release (03,04 & 06) Mixed Vintage

(this 2017 release was made from a selection that totaled 59 barrels from 2003, 2004 and 2006) Vivid ruby-red. Ripe cherry, dark berries, cigar box, vanilla bean and incense on the deeply perfumed, expansive nose. Shows impressive weight and breadth on the palate, offering sappy blackberry, candied cherry and spicecake flavors complicated by hints of rose pastille, vanilla and licorice. The smooth, strikingly long finish shows a seamless quality and repeating floral and dark berry notes that build as the wine opens up. While this wine has plenty going on right now, I've no doubt that it will enjoy a long, positive evolution as well.

The one non-vintage wine released yearly, as a blend of different harvests, is now the NV Único Reserva Especial 2017 Release, which contains wine from the 2003, 2004 and 2006 vintages—very warm and ripe years in general in Ribera del Duero, especially the 2003. As all recent vintages of Único, it is mainly Tempranillo with a small percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon. It has younger wines than last year's release, which was made up of 1996, 1998 and 2002, and the wine shows it with less developed aromas and a more fruit-forward profile. It has the classical developed Vega Sicilia bouquet, but the newer vintages used this time and the extra bottle time they have given to the 2005 Único (which is released at the same time as this), makes them show similar profiles. What I'm trying to say is that this is certainly younger than the majority of Reserva Especial to date, and the forest floor, spicy and musky aromas are combined with more primary notes of fruit. The palate has the polished texture and the very fine tannins that are the signature of this cuvée, and a very long and tasty finish. It's quite approachable, but should also be able to develop in bottle. 17,117 bottles and 202 magnums were filled in June 2013.