2018 Vega Sicilia Alión Ribera del Duero

Product Description

No name in Spanish wine carries more weight than Vega Sicilia. Founded in 1864 by Don Eloy Lecanda y Chaves on the banks of the Duero, the estate was a pioneer from the outset, planting Bordeaux varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot alongside the region’s native Tinto Fino. Over the following century its flagship, Único, became Spain’s first truly great wine, famed for its extraordinarily patient ageing and released only when deemed ready, often a decade or more after the harvest. For generations it was the one Spanish wine collected and revered across the world, and it is still often called Spain’s first growth.

In 1982 the estate was acquired by David Álvarez and his family, and a new chapter began. Under the stewardship of his son Pablo Álvarez, the family invested heavily in the vineyards and cellars while preserving the traditions that made Vega Sicilia legendary. They have since grown the group, now known as Tempos Vega Sicilia, into a constellation of exceptional estates, from Pintia in Toro to Oremus in Tokaj. The family’s standing among the world’s great wine dynasties is confirmed by its membership of Primum Familiae Vini.

Alión was the family’s first new venture, and a bold one. Launched with the 1991 vintage, it was conceived not as a second wine but as a distinct expression of Ribera del Duero in its own right: modern, polished and independent. It takes its name from the village in León where David Álvarez was born. After its first vintages were made at Vega Sicilia, Alión moved in 1993 to its own winery at Padilla de Duero, some 15 kilometres away. Pablo Álvarez has described its style as lying somewhere between Ribera del Duero and the Médoc.

The wine is crafted entirely from Tinto Fino, drawn from a mosaic of carefully chosen sites, including vineyards on the Vega Sicilia estate itself, and farmed with the same exacting viticulture as its illustrious sibling. Grapes are hand-picked into small 12-kilogram boxes and sorted meticulously before fermenting in wooden vats. The wine is then aged for 12 to 14 months, largely in new French oak barrels from Bordeaux’s finest coopers, which are never used again, before resting a further fifteen months in bottle. The result is intense, fleshy and complex, with dark fruit, spice and a firm yet refined structure. Above all it shows the elegance that has become Alión’s signature, along with the ability to evolve beautifully for twenty years or more.