Vega Sicilia Valbuena 2001

Red cherry, rhubarb and roasted coffee on the nose, with vanillin oak woven through and a perfumed lift that is unmistakably Valbuena. Generous and plush on entry, medium to full-bodied, with sweet red and dark fruit at the core alongside exotic spice and fine-grained tannins that grip without intruding. The finish is long and sweetly fruited, spice notes trailing through to the end. With no Unico produced in 2001, this bottling absorbed the estate's finest fruit from that vintage, which makes it worth seeking out and holding.