Vega Sicilia Único Ribera del Duero 2013

99 points/'Top 5 Wines of the Year 2023,' Jane Anson (Inside Bordeaux): "(97% Tinto Fino, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon). Speaking as someone who has tasted many 2013 Bordeaux wines this year, at the 10 Years On point, this is an exceptional example of the vintage, nuanced, compex, light on its feet, singular and utterly delicious. This is what oyster shell salinity means in a wine, so savoury that it has edges of soy, soot, smoke, lightly smoked spice, fattening up to creme de cassis, blackberry pastille and liqourice through the mid palate, concentrated with huge length and grip, and a crushed rose petal finish. Just so good. Waves of flavour keep you glued to the glass. 33 year old vines, planted 2,222v/ha, up to 900 altitude. The ageing process is a thing of beauty also - Unico starts in barrel for the first year, then the blend begins before part of the wine is put back into barrel and other parts into larger casks. At the end of the second year they decide upon the final blend, and back into casks for another three years, racking once a year, then finally into bottle for 4.5 years before release, adding up to somewhere close to 10 years after harvest before it appears on the market (with the magnum version held back until 2015). (2/7/23)"

98 points James Suckling: "This has a polished and complex nose of poached plums, dark cherries, tea leaves, graphite, milk chocolate and a touch of caramel. It’s medium-to full-bodied with firm yet creamy tannins. Caressing, seductive and ripe, but with underlying freshness. 97% tempranillo and 3% cabernet sauvignon. Tasted from magnum. The normal bottle will be released 2023 and the magnum in 2025. Try after 2023. (9/21/22)"

97 points Luis Gutiérrez (Wine Advocate): "[$750 list] I had already tasted the 2013 Único from magnum in a vertical tasting of all the magnums ever produced and was quite impressed by it (and the still unreleased 2014 that should be available in 2024). 2013 saw a rainy harvest, and the wine is subtle, elegant and fresh, complex, silky and with precision. The wine matured in 225-liter barrels in an initial phase and then in 22,000-liter oak vats until it was bottled in June 2019. This year, the final blend was 97% Tinto Fino and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon with a little less alcohol, 14%, and a pH of 3.78 and 5.2 grams of acidity, fresh and balanced, more elegant and subtler. Único often transcends the character of the vintage and doesn't follow the norm in the region, and the 2013 is a good example of that. It was a very rainy and complicated vintage; they harvested quite quickly to avoid botrytis, and while other people waited for concentration, they did not, and their approach clearly paid back. It's aromatic and floral, less dense than the 2012, subtler, more expressive and more elegant. It's clean and fresh, tasty, with very fine tannins. It's a big surprise for the vintage and one of the finest Únicos in the last few years. 76,476 bottles, 3,658 magnums and some larger formats produced, the shortest crop since 2009. Drink: 2023-2035. (1/31/23)"

97 points Tim Atkin, MW: "(14%). This vintage of Único may not make very old bones, but it's a delight to drink now and will continue to evolve for at least another decade. Reflecting the cooler, wetter growing season in 2013, it's a graceful, perfumed, balsamic Tinto Fino with earth and tobacco leaf aromas, sweet, almost gamey fruit and a leafy undertone from 3% Cabernet Sauvignon. 2023-35. (2022)"

96 points Wine Spectator: "Rich and savory at first, with hints of leather, mesquite smoke and fresh earth that transition to underscore the range of black plum, dried mint, spice box and graphite flavors. Firm, chalky tannins are wrapped in a finely woven profile, showing a sense of finesse and overall balance through to the lasting finish. Tinto Fino and Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now through 2035. (7/31/23)"

96 points Peñín Guide to Spanish Wine: "(97% tempranillo, 3% cabernet sauvignon). Crisp, elegant. Colour: cherry, garnet rim. Nose: red berry notes, scribland, balsamic herbs, chalk. Palate: fruity, easy to drink, good acidity, taut, chalky. (2023)"

95 points Wine & Spirits: "The 2013 season was relatively mild and dry, at least until harvest, when the rains came on from the end of September through mid-October. The 100 acres of vines for Unico grow on a north-facing hillside, the remnants of an ancient lake bed, its sediments combining sand and clay flecked with crystallized gypsum. The soil’s ability to manage water, along with the vines’ adaptation to the site for 40, 60 or 80 years, delivered a beautiful 2013, a silken pleasure, fragrant with fresh fruit and violet scents. The lasting impression is complex, melding notes of pipe tobacco, black-mushroom umami, red currant, red meat and flamed orange peel. The dry tannins take the gentle well of dark fruits toward tension in the end, making this a keeper. (Apr 2023)"