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Which Vega Sicilia would make the best gift?

19/11/2019 Wineries

There is no doubt that Vega Sicilia is a jewel in the Ribera del Duero crown and the best-known, legendary winery in Spain. It is part of the Tempos Vega Sicilia Group, who produce some of the most sought after wines.

If you want to experience the wines made by the Tempos Vega Sicilia Group, then we are here to help. Here are some simple guidelines to choosing the best wines from this world-class winemaking group.

Vega Sicilia

Which Vega Sicilia should you choose?

Any wine made by the Vega Sicilia winery is a great choice and will go down really well with any wine lover.

There are two wines considered to be their very best: The Vega Sicilia Único and the Vega Sicilia Reserva Edición Especial. What is the difference between the two?

It is worth mentioning right at the beginning that the Tempos Vega Sicilia Group strives for excellence, so any grape clusters that do not meet the highest quality standards are not used to make their great wines. They are used, but just not for these products.

Vega Sicilia Único is a vintage wine. It is made with the best grapes from excellent vintages. A certain number of barrels are held back from each harvest to make the Vega Sicilia Único Reserva Especial, which is made up of a mixture of these barrels belonging to different “Únicos” that can be from two or three different vintages. Vega Sicilia Único Reserva Especial is the group’s flagship wine, which represents the greatest complexity and elegance, a wine that they have been making since the very beginning.

The real difference is this:

Vega Sicilia Único is a vintage wine and Vega Sicilia Único Reserva Especial is a combination of two or three Único vintages.

Don’t be surprised if you can’t find recent vintages of Vega Sicilia Único. It is one of the wines that spends the most time aging in the barrel and bottle before being sold. It can age for ten years, which means that the latest vintage to date is Vega Sicilia Único 2009.

However, don’t be thrown if you find a bottle of Vega Sicilia Único Reserva Especial with the current year on the label. This is not an indication of the wine’s vintage because, as we already said, this wine is a mixture of two or three Único vintages. The date refers to the release year of that Edición Especial, which may be a coupage of ten or twelve year old vintages, like the Vega Sicilia Único Reserva Especial 2019 (the reserva’s latest edition) which is a coupage of the 2006, 2007 and 2009 Único vintages. This information can be found on the front label of each bottle.

How long can you save a Vega Sicilia before drinking it?

These wines have an amazing aging ability. They are luxurious and delightful, and are made to enjoy straight away but they can be saved for as long as 60 years. They of course have to be stored in the right conditions.

Tempos Group Vega Sicilia also produces another extraordinary wine under the Vega Sicilia brand, the Valbuena 5º año which, like its older siblings, is made under strict quality standards. It is a vintage wine, like the Vega Sicilia Único, but it is aged for 5 years, hence its name: 5º año. 95% of the wine is made with the country’s red variety, which is representative of the Ribera del Duero, and the remaining 5% is made with the merlot variety, depending on the vintage. An extraordinary wine to delve into the great Vega Sicilia collection, a true reflection of the terroir it comes from.

Other offerings from the Tempos Vega Sicilia Group.

Although the above options are a safe bet, Vega Sicilia has much more to offer. The Álvarez family took on the brand in 1982, and since then, the group has expanded through the acquisition of Alión, Macán and Pintia. Three wineries located in three prestigious wine regions and run according to the same working principles.

Differences and similarities between Alión, Macán and Pintia wines.

These wines are made using the same variety: Tempranillo. But in the area of the bull (toro), they call it tinta de toro (for the Pintia), in Ribera del Duero it is known as tinta del país (for the Alión) and for the Macán it keeps the Tempranillo name, which is what this grape is known as in Rioja.

Macán has two offerings: Macán and Macán Clásico. These two wines coexist right from the beginning, they undergo the same winemaking and aging processes but then they follow the Bordeaux tradition of making a first and a second wine. After aging and when it is time for classification tasting, the barrels with closer and more expressive characteristics are used for the Macán Clásico and those with more complexity become the Macán.

Although Pintia, Alión and the Macán range are in different areas, the production methods and styles are very similar, including the aging time, which can range from 13 to 15 months, depending on the wine and the vintage. What makes the difference, of course, are the different regions, soils and climates. And although they are not the same, they do belong to the same range and style. Concentrated, mature and refined wines that define the elegant Vega Sicilia style, each with an excellent storage capacity and the perfect way to compare the different expressions created with the same variety in different terroirs.

Now that you know more about the differences and characteristics of the Tempus Vega Sicilia Group wines, it is up to you to choose. This will come down to the customer’s taste and budget and, if you are buying as a gift, it would be a good idea to find out if the recipient has tried any of them already so that you can give them the opportunity to try something new. A Vega Sicilia never disappoints! Whatever your final choice, these wines will provide you with an extraordinary experience to remember or a gift that will never fail.

You can find out more about each of them on the product information sheets on our website by clicking on the links in the text.

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