Alcohol: 14.5%
Grape(s): Tempranillo
Localization: Ribera del Duero, Spain
Tasting Notes: Valbuena 5º is the purest expression of red wine at Vega Sicilia. It is aged between barrel and bottle over five years, giving rise to the wine's name: Valbuena 5º.
A fresher, Atlantic-influenced, somewhat more productive vintage. We had to be stricter during selection, but these vintages provided a touch of zing and verticality to the wines, which is wonderful. We were able to squeeze extraction somewhat more for the 2018, and we increased the influence of wood during the first year of ageing, particularly our American oak (5 %). During the second year of ageing, the vat worked on this complexity of nuances and particularly the elegance of the texture.
Valbuena 5º is a vertical, zingy, crystalline expression, full of nuances, with a seductive and unctuous texture.
Notes: A wine that shows us the splendor of each vintage based on the wisdom of the past and the wealth of the present.
A mellow, passionate and living style that year after year, challenge after challenge, harvest after harvest reinterprets its style to keep its essence intact.
Valbuena, is the purest expression of the Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) in Vega Sicilia. Tinto Fino is clearly the predominant wine in the assemblage of the varieties that make up this magnificent wine. The other variety used is Merlot, which is added to a greater or lesser extent depending on the vintage.
The Valbuena Tempranillo is obtained from plots located on gentle concave slopes that descend from the wasteland. Those soils are made up of material that was eroded and accumulated as colluvial on the lower slopes, developing a high-profile soil with a specific important evolution with the formation of a deep calcic horizon.
Valbuena provides us with a direct and understandable view of the greatness of this "terroir" with the direct influence of each vintage. Its production remains unchanged, meaning that each year's weather factors mark the differences between the different harvests.
Fermentation at a controlled temperature with native yeast in stainless steel tanks. Malolactic fermentation also takes place in stainless steel.
After fermentation, it is aged for five years, between wood and in the bottle, which is why it is called Valbuena 5º. French and American wood, new and used 225-liter barrels, 20,000-litre vats, a long and complex process for great wine.
The Domain: Alion was launched with the 1991 vintage by the famous Vega Sicilia estate. Inspired by the "modern classic" style of top Bordeaux, owner Pablo Alvarez wished to adopt this style of wine to the unique climate and soils in the western Ribera del Duero. Around half the grapes come from Vega Sicilia vineyards, the other half from Alion's own vineyards near Penafiel. The wine is made by Javier Ausas, head winemaker of Vega Sicilia, at Alion's dedicated, state-of-the-art winery. Alion is certainly a modern wine, an opulent and seductive 100% Tempranillo aged for 14 months in new French oak barrels, but - as one would expect from Vega Sicilia - there is nothing over-the-top about the wine. Not overripe, over-extracted or overoaked, it is all about elegance, harmony, class...and sheer hedonistic pleasure
