Vega Sicilia Alión Ribera del Duero 2017 i trälåda

James Suckling

Lots of chocolate and berry with some coffee-bean and vanilla undertones. It’s full and layered with plenty of fruit, round tannins and pleasing complexity of smoked and toasted wood. Tar undertone. Very drinkable now, but better after 2022.

Robert Parker

The 2017 Alión, the only wine produced here, comes from a challenging year marked by spring frost and a warm and dry end of the season, so they reduced the amount of new oak by 8%. It fermented with indigenous yeasts, and 10% of the volume aged in concrete, completely unoaked. The change in the oak regimen helped with the style of the vintage, which was marked by the frost that hit part of the Alión vineyards. Furthermore, the end of the season was warm and dry, and they had to work to control ripeness and power and perhaps the possibility of more aggressive tannins. It's a classical Alión, with some developed aromas, juicy and round but not heavy, with just a tad of earthy rusticity. With time, it develops more balsamic notes and hints of licorice. 230,032 bottles, 7,004 magnums, 614 double magnums and a handful of bigger sizes were produced. It was bottled in June 2019.

Guia Peñin

Falstaff

Dark, complex bouquet with notes of prune, milk chocolate and nougat. In addition hints of dark forest berry compote, some liquorice and hyssop. On the palate gripping from the first second. Seems extremely dense and powerful and nevertheless possesses wonderful creaminess. Aroma of wild berries, sour cherry, plum and some cinnamon. Ripe, easily noticeable tannin of high quality. Fresh acidity and long, fruity-spicy finish.