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The history of this estate began in 1848, when Toribio Lecanda, a landowner of Basque origin, bought a 2,000 hectare estate used for agriculture and cattle farming from the Marquis of Valbuena.
Eloy, son of Toribio Lecanda, founder of the Vega Sicilia winery in 1864, bought 18,000 shoots of cabernet sauvignon, malbec, merlot and pinot noir in Bordeaux, to be used in the making of brandy and ratafias. In 1876, in the Philadelphia Fair, Lecanda obtained a quality certificate for his brandies. That same year, he succeeded in achieving the position as supplier to the Royal Family, and in 1880, he obtained the Grand Cross of Isabel the Catholic; all before the birth of the red wine that was to make the company famous.
With the estate having been acquired by the Herrero family, it is rented to Cosme Palacio, who creates the winery of Domingo Garramiola, a person who is crucial to the history of Vega Sicilia.
Domingo Garramiola Txomin was born in Marquina-Echevarría on 1st October 1878. In Vega Sicilia, Domingo used Bordeaux techniques for making wine. He renewed the aging casks and, above all, made great efforts in cleaning the wine presses.
The hard work of Txomin Garramiola gave fruit in 1915, with the birth of two exceptional wines: Vega Sicilia and Valbuena. These wines followed along the lines of the Rioja wines of the day: lengthy aging in vats and wooden casks and bottled to order.
The distribution of these first bottles began among the upper class bourgeoisie and the aristocracy, but not for commercial purposes. The owners of the winery offered this wine as a gift to the good friends of the family. Thus began the forging of the legend of Spain´s most exclusive wine, as it cannot be bought with money, but only with friendship.
The current stage began in 1982, when David Álvarez acquired the winery and the vineyards from the Venezuelan businessman Miguel Neumann. Since that year, the Álvarez Mezquíriz family has developed a policy of harmonisation of present innovative techniques required by the wine sector with the traditional winemaking process. The vineyard area has been extended and a modernisation process has taken place both in and out of the winery.
ENVIROMENT
The Vega Sicilia wineries are located in Valbuena de Duero, in the province of Valladolid, on an estate made up of a fertile plain that follows the course of the river. The river is the northern boundary of the 1,000 hectares of the property; the southern limit is set by the woods, which stand on the slopes leading to the plain. The estate has a plantation of 250 hectares of vineyard, which contains 80% of the autochthonous tinto fino variety or tempranillo de la Ribera, and the rest is cabernet sauvignon, merlot and malbec. The soils are clayey-limestone, with brown-grey streaks and an alluvial area.
To this day, the winery conserves its sober appearance of a Castilian mansion. Its façade is made of brick, and has a monastic air. Inside, there is a chapel, which was built by the first owners and has the name of Santa Cecilia. It is thought that the name of the estate comes from this name.
Over recent years, the Álvarez family, owner of the winery, has increased the surface area of the vineyard in order to basically supply Bodegas y Viñedos Alión
The estate of Vega Sicilia has a plantation of 250 hectares of vineyards. The rigour involved in making these wines begins with the racemes of grapes, which are controlled down to each detail. In this way, the winery has established limits to the production of its vines, which do not surpass 22 hectolitres per hectare; the grape is not picked if it has less than 13 degrees; the number of vines per hectare is around 2,200; irrigation is not used, but a careful system of green pruning to eliminate racemes so that each vine produces less than two kilos, with the minerals and nutrients from the soil being concentrated in this low production.
Along the same lines of precision, the harvesting of the grapes is carried out selectively in accord with the degree of ripeness of the racemes from the different estates. The hand-picked grapes arrive at the winery in boxes of twenty kilos. They are placed on a table, where they are selected. From there, a conveyor takes them to the chosen fermentation vat. The objective is to introduce grapes with similar characteristics into each vat, for the making of different wines.
Stemming is not carried out systematically, but rather with special care.
The alcoholic fermentation usually lasts fifteen days, and the maximum temperature it may reach is of 32 degrees. The optimum ripeness of the selected grape from the harvest and the alcohol content, which varies between 13% and 14.5%, facilitate the extraction of colour and tannins. Vega Sicilia Único ferments preferentially in oak vats, and Valbuena in stainless steel vats.
Then, the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation. With the Valbuena wines, this second fermentation takes place in cement vats. For the Único wines, the liquid is poured directly into oak storage containers. There, the wines undergo malolactic fermentation at the same temperature as the Valbuena. Once finished, the wine remains in the containers for a further year, calmly resting and clearing.
The aging of the wine begins in January; first in containers and then in new casks. For the Valbuena, the duration of the aging process in wood is three and a half years, and for the Único, a minimum of seven years. During this time, the wine is rotated form new casks to casks that are more and more used. With a view to achieving a perfect balance between the wine and the wood. Once this has been achieved, the wines finally rest in large wooden vats, which prepares them for later bottling.
The winery submits its wines to periods of aging in wood that are longer than usual in the world of wine; only the best wines are capable of supporting this harsh test, which gives the wines their character, elegance, classicism and aromas exclusive to Vega Sicilia.
The bottling process of the wines takes place in very modern installations, with the winery’s dual mechanical and chemical control system of the corks. For this, the samples sent by the manufacturer are passed on to the prestigious French laboratory Excel. If the specified requirements are fulfilled, the supplier is told to send the order. On reception, random samples are taken from the different lots and resent to France for examination. If the order meets the winery’s quality standards, the wines are bottled using the corks in question.
The aging in the bottle requires time and care. The wines of Vega Sicilia end their journey with a calm rest in the bottle in specially acclimatised installations. The time they remain there depends on the format of the bottle: Vega Sicilia Único in Bordeaux format (0.75 litres) takes three years or more to age; the Magnum (one and a half litres) and the Double Magnum (three litres) are subjected to much longer periods of aging in the bottle. For the Valbuena, the period for aging in the bottle is the same for all three formats: around a year and a half.
A system that takes us back in time. There is no hurry in Vega Sicilia.
Valbuena 5º
The Valbuena red has aged for less time than the Vega Sicilia Único. It is a wine that comes from the younger vines and, it is mostly made with the varieties of tempranillo and more merlot than cabernet sauvignon. It has the garnet cherry red colour of its older brother, with orangey undertones, the ethereal expression of its alcohol content and the accent of an excellent oxidative evolution, which is the fruit of oak that has been well tanned, which is a characteristic of the company's red wines. Its personality is reminiscent of the varieties used, with a hint of ripe red fruit. In the mouth, it has less structure than the Vega Sicilia Único, but holdsthe complexity of the wine-fruit association.
Variety: the most approximate percentage of varieties of grape: TINTO FINO: 80%. MERLOT, MALBEC: 20%.
History: Once the process of fermentation has ended the wine spent five months in large capacity wooden tanks (20.000 litres.). Then it racked to new casks – 60% American oak and 40% French ones aging for 16 months, 5 months in semi-used casks and finally again in wooden vats of 20.000 litres capacity before its bottling in September 2002.
Production: 182.700 Bordeaux bottles, 3.100 Magnum and 100 Double Magnum
TASTING NOTES
Color: A dark-coloured wine. Deep, black cherry with purple undertones. Brilliant and lively.
Nose: Deep It has aromas red ripe fruits. The oak notes are noticed
Mouth: Complexity of tastes, meaty and well-structured. And very rich in fruits flavours very well balanced with oaky notes. Two features made it different: there is not any signs of greenness and its velvety structure.
Size: 75 CL
Every Bottle Costs: €89.95 EUR
Alcohol: 13,5%Vol
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