Vega Sicilia, Alión, 2018, Ribera del Duero, Spain

Our View:

From the stables of the world famous Vega Sicilia, Alión comes from a careful selection of terroirs dotted across the very best areas of the Ribera del Duero DO. These complementary soils, along with the same winemaking process as Vega Sicilia, have given rise to generously structured wines.

2018 was a fresh, Atlantic-influenced vintage, giving this Alión a more vertical, longer, and elegant expression. This fabulous example can be appreciated now or cellared for enjoyment in many years to come. 

The Wine:

Alión is formed by a careful selection of plots spread across the best of Ribera del Duero. These plots, which complement each other, joined by the same viticulture as Vega Sicilia, have given rise to firm structured wines.

The 2018 vintage reflects weather influenced by the Atlantic, with higher than average precipitation, cool temperatures, and a relatively late harvest, between 28 September and 12 October.

We used our Wine Making Facility for the first time, with tanks at half the capacity, enabling greater precision during extraction. We increased the effect of new oak on this vintage by up to 80 %, with American oak representing 10 %, targeting a more generous wine.

Tasting Note:

 As James Suckling himself commented in his review: 

"Fresh and very floral with violets and berries. Blackberries and orange peel, too. Medium-to full-bodied with firm, linear tannins. Excellent length and structure. Seriously structured, Better after 2024, but already beautiful."

The Facts:

What the critics say:

96 Points - James Suckling, 26 August 2021

"Fresh and very floral with violets and berries. Blackberries and orange peel, too. Medium-to full-bodied with firm, linear tannins. Excellent length and structure. Seriously structured, Better after 2024, but already beautiful."

 94 points -Tim Atkin - Ribera del Duero 2021 Special Report 

"Alión is a pan-Ribera cuvée, with around half of the grapes bought from growers in Anguix, La Aguilera, La Horra, Moradillo, Nava and Padilla and the rest from Vega Sicilia. It's very different in style from the wines of its parent company, with the focus on French oak, 80% of it new, and just 10% American wood. Floral and refined, with intense perfume, polished tannins, layered bramble and blackberry fruit and chalky precision. A delicious Alión. 2023-32."

95+ Points - Luis Gutiérrez, Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, 30 December 2021

"The 2018 Alión follows the path of the 2016: it is fresh and elegant and from a cooler (more Atlantic) vintage with more rain than the average and a relatively late harvest between September 28th and October 12th. They used 80% new barrels, with up to 10% made of American oak looking to (in their own words) give more sucrosity and sweetness to the wine, as it's a more vertical, tense and elegant expression of Alión. Part of the wine matured in concrete (something they started in 2016), and in 2021 they are experimenting with a 4,000-liter Rousseau foudre, as they want to keep working the texture and freshness. The wine is ripe at 15% alcohol and has a pH of 3.8 and a mellow 4.6 grams of acidity, round and soft. The wine matured until it was bottled in June 2020. The truth is that the wine comes through as subtle, elegant and balanced, with very integrated oak and a nice texture. It's one of the finest vintages for Alión. 257,257 bottles, 7,005 magnums and some larger formats produced."