Vega Sicilia Tinto Valbuena 5 2018 (RP96)

Country:             Spain
Region:               Ribera del Duero Rating:                RP96, JS96, WS94
Grape Variety:   96% Tinto Fino, 4% Merlot
Type of Wine:   Red Wine
Bottle Size:        750ml

By Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 96
The 2018 Valbuena comes from a cooler vintage with good yields that required sorting and selecting in search of a happy and vertical version of Valbuena, pushing a little more and giving the wine a little more oak, especially American (5%). It was produced with 96% Tinto Fino and 4% Merlot that went through a three- to four-day cold soak and fermented with indigenous yeasts followed by malolactic in stainless steel. The élevage was in new and used 225-liter oak barrels and 21,000-liter oak vats. It has 14.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.8 and 4.78 grams of acidity (tartaric), so it's ripe and with mellow acidity that gives it a mellow mouthfeel. This is a very spicy vintage for Valbuena, getting closer to the style of Único (while at the same time I felt the 2018 Pintia from Toro was getting closer to the aromatics of some vintages of Valbuena, like 2010). It was a late-ripening year with a tendency toward freshness in the wines. The palate is medium to full-bodied, with very fine tannins that made the wine nicely textured and very elegant. There is a lot of regularity in the Valbuena of the last few years, here with more tension and freshness of the 2017, a little more balsamic even.

James Suckling 96
Deep and complex, with fresh black and blue fruit and an attractive floral and peppery note to this vintage, followed by hints of cedar, sweet spice and vanilla. Very dusty and juicy on the palate, with mealy, powdery tannins that interweave with the fruit. A Valbuena 5 that you can appreciate earlier.

Wine Spectator 94
A harmonious red, displaying flavors of black plum reduction and wild strawberry fruit, with fragrant Earl Grey, cedar, cocoa powder and loamy earth notes in a graceful, medium- to full-bodied frame. Well-structured but supple, with the generous profile gliding across the silky palate through to the finish of fine-grained tannins and fragrant spices. Tinto Fino and Merlot.