2013 Vega Sicilia Valbuena (Ribera del Duero)

Brilliant ruby-red. A complex and highly expressive nose evokes fresh cherry, cassis, pipe tobacco and pungent flowers, and subtle vanilla and smoky mineral flourishes build in the glass. Sweet, penetrating and energetic on the palate, offering incisive dark berry, floral pastille and spicecake flavors that take a turn to finer red fruits on the back half. In a lithe, graceful style, showing superb finishing delineation and an impressively long, sweet, floral- and spice-laced finish. Note that there will be no Unico bottled from the 2013 vintage. 94 points