Vega Sicilia Valbuena 5

42 months in French and American oak barrels and 18 months in bottle. The bouquet is expressive and has floral notes along with wild berries, herbs and a spicy and smoky touch that's nicely integrated. It has good complexity and nuance, the palate is deeply fleshy with rich blueberries, cassis and dark roasting herbs. Very deep-set, powerful black fruit with a deeper tannin texture. The power and freshness here is extraordinary. Deeply layered and great length and persistence on the finish.

Vega Sicilia was founded almost 155 years ago, in 1864 by a Basque citizen, Eloy Lecanda from the North part of Spain. He founded Vega in Valladolid, where it is located now, and at that moment it was a place where no one had cultivated any kind of grapes. He owned the winery for approximately forty years, until the beginning of the last century, when the winery was sold to the Herrero family who were basically bankers from close to Valladolid. They owned the winery until around the 1950s, when the winery was sold to an industrial group who commercialised to make the wine. In 1962, the winery was sold to a guy from Venezuela. This is the earliest date in the history of Vega Sicilia where the company did not belong to a Spanish family or person. He was the owner for 20 years until 1982, when the latest stage of Vega where we currently are at right now. The Alvarez family, the current owners bought Vega Sicilia. They had bought one winery, which made three wines, Unico, Valbuena and Reserva Especial, and they decided to create a group of wineries, and in 1991, they founded Alión, in the Ribera del Duero, only 8 miles east from Vega Sicilia. And that is very briefly the history of Vega...