Vega Sicilia, Valbuena 5.°, Ribera del Duero 2014

The ripeness is impressive here. A lot of work was done in the vineyard in 2014 to get yields right. It delivers darker fruit aromas and flavors, black cherries and plums, dark chocolate and licorice. The palate is deeply fleshy with rich blueberries, cassis and dark roasting herbs. Very deep-set, powerful black fruit with a deeper tannin texture. The power and freshness here is extraordinary. Deeply layered. Superb. Approachable now, but the best drinking will be from 2024 onwards.

Vivid ruby. A highly perfumed, complex bouquet displays smoke-accented cherry and black currant liqueur, vanilla, pipe tobacco and incense qualities, along with exotic spice and mineral overtones. Sweet and deeply concentrated, offering expansive dark fruit, floral pastille, chewing tobacco and spicecake flavors that become livelier and pick up a hint of cola with aeration. Seamless, focused and lively for its lushness, finishing very long and sweet, with building florality and fine-grained tannins lending gentle grip.

The 2014 Valbuena, mostly Tempranillo with some 5% Merlot fermented by plot, making a selection from their 210 hectares of vineyards, and then matured in a combination of barriques and larger 20,000-liter oak vats. 2014 is a spectacular vintage of Valbuena, and it reminds me of the 2010, perhaps a tad more elegant and less powerful. It's expressive and has floral notes on the nose along with wild berries, herbs and a spicy and smoky touch that's nicely integrated. It has good complexity and nuance, and the palate is medium to full-bodied and intense, with pungent flavors and great length and persistence. Truly spectacular! 184,684 bottles, 5,578 magnums and some large formats produced. It was bottled in June 2016.