I routinely bought a case of Alion for my cellar each vintage for the first several years after Vega Sicilia started this project, but as the years rolled by, I somehow lost track of this wine and was delighted when the team at Vega sent the new vintage in my box of samples. The 2013 Alion is comprised entirely of tempranillo and raised in new French wood. The wine is ripe at 14.5 percent octane, but also refined and beautifully balanced. The bouquet offers up a classy blend of black cherries, plums, cocoa powder, cigar wrapper, a fine base of soil and smoky, nutty new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and nicely transparent in profile, with a good core, fine focus and grip, ripe tannins and good length and grip on the well-balanced finish. This wine is beautifully made in its style, with the new wood very well done and the ripeness level managed with dexterity. (Drink between 2017-2030)

Firm and dense, this seems a bit tough at first but blooms with air, offering black fruit, coffee and tar flavors, and finishing with anise and floral notes, bright acidity balancing the muscular tannins. Drink now through 2025. 21,000 cases made. –TM

(17+/20) Blackish crimson with an inky core. The fruit smells riper than the Pintia, more fruit cake but still dark and savoury at the same time. Complex aroma: baking spice and a touch earthy. Still really scented, opening to a light floral note, too. Firm, velvety texture but tastes cooler and less thick on the palate than the Pintia. Even with this ripeness there is a fine complexity on the nose. Sweet black fruit and a light spice on the finish. (JH)