Vega-Sicilia Unico Reserva Especial “Venta 2021”

Tasting Notes: If you wonder how a single wine comes to define the character of a region—if not an entire country—spend some time with Unico Reserva Especial. Native to Valladolid, grown near the town that was once the center of Castilla y Leon and the seat of the kingdom of Spain, the wine’s particular interaction of strength and elegance provides a window into the Castilian soul. The vines that provide the fruit for Unico rise up a north-facing slope, the escarpment at the edge of a high plateau that was once a lake bed, its sediments combining sand and clay flecked with crystalized gypsum, soils that sustain generations of vines ranging from 40 to 60 and 80 years old. This 2021 bottling of Reserva Especial combines 59 barrels selected from the 2009, 2010 and 2011 vintages of Unico. The skeleton of the wine is built out of that lake-bottom soil with its glinting facets of gypsum; the scent of the wine is built out of the complexity of fruit from old vines—rose garden, cigar box, red spices and deep red currants. Reserva Especial sustains its fresh succulence for a week after the bottle is first opened, allowing you to enjoy its increasing depths, layering earth, fruit and sun into a wine of substantial beauty.