2010 - Valbuena 5.°, Vega Sicilia, Ribera del Duero

Opaque ruby. Powerful, deeply pitched red and dark berry preserve, incense and floral pastille scents are enlivened by an intense mineral quality. Concentrated yet strikingly vibrant and focused on the palate, showing bitter cherry, black raspberry and vanilla flavors that spread out with air while maintaining urgency. An extremely long, sweet, penetrating finish features velvety, harmonious tannins that provide gentle grip to the wine's sappy berry fruit and candied lavender qualities. This stunning wine was aged for 18 months in new oak, half of it American and half of it French. I can't recall a better version of this bottling at this stage of its development and I hesitate to apply an arbitrary drinking window here as I'm sure that it will outlive me.

95% Tinto Fino (Tempranillo), 5% Merlot. Matured for five months in 20,000-litre oak vats, 18 months in new barriques (equal parts French and American oak), three months in used barrels and then 5 months in the vats again before bottling and aging an additional 29 months. 180,000 bottles produced. Deep garnet. Has started to evolve a smoky cape that wraps rich dark fruit. Fine cedar oak aromas and silky tannin. While this is gorgeous now, it has so much verve it could easily go for another decade. Toasty, dark, chocolatey. Slight creaminess and lactic note to the finish. (SCJ)