Very attractive aromas of blackberries, dark chocolate and orange peel, as well as fresh herbs. Full-bodied, very rich and layered with lots of beautiful fruit. A long and flavorful finish. Rich and opulent. A blend of 95% tempranillo and 5% merlot. Drink or hold.

With five years of aging, first in wood, then in bottle, Valbuena 5 is a young wine by Vega-Sicilia’s standards. The most notable characteristic of the 2013 is its density of flavor, ripe, intense and expansive, yet it’s full of detail, with an emphasis on Mediterranean spice and ripe blackberries. Then, the tension of the acidity seems to give an electric charge to the tannins, making it feel radiant and immediately inviting. But don’t: This is a wine for the cellar. Given the heavy rains at harvest in 2013, it’s a remarkably vibrant Valbuena.

This wine was re-tasted prior to this report with similar descriptors to my previous tasting for a report I published earlier this year and the score was the same. Cropped from an unusually cold and rainy vintage in which they will not bottle Único, the 2013 Valbuena is always released in its fifth year. It's mostly Tempranillo with 5% Merlot that was put through a three- to four-day cold soak in the oak vats, where it fermented with indigenous yeasts and was pumped over. It matured in new and used 225-liter French and American oak barriques and also in 20,000-liter oak vats, where the larger vessels respect the fruit, especially in a more fragile vintage like 2013. It's a very elegant and fresh Valbuena with a developed nose, quite classical with a fine texture, elegant tannins and a supple, long finish where the oak is still quite obvious. I liked it very much and consider it a triumph over the challenges of the year. - Luis Gutiérrez

Technical Director Gonzalo Iturriaga de Juan arrived in 2015 in time to blend this wine. He calls it a ‘viticultor vintage’ - a grower's vintage, as it was a wet year with botrytis that needed plenty of selection. For the first year the wine was aged in French and American barriques, which at that stage was ‘angular’, noted Iturriaga. However, following ageing in 20,000-litre vats, the wine acquired its current elegance. It's very aromatic, with dark fruits and a lively, fresh acidity with notes of rosemary and wild herbs.

A polished texture carries focused flavors of cherry, licorice, espresso and mineral in this lithe red. The tannins are firm and well-integrated, the acidity clean and fresh. Has muscle, but remains elegant. Drink now through 2023. – TM

Exotic aromas of blueberry along with Middle Eastern spice notes set this apart from the Ribera del Duero pack. A wide, pulpy palate is smacking, while short, oaky flavors of stewed plum and beef bouillon are meaty and again, different than most wines from the area. Finally, a finish with oxidized notes suggests that you drink this sooner rather than later.