NV Unico Reserva Especial, 2025 Release (11, 12, 13)

A blend of 96% Tinto Fino and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2026 edition is composed approximately of 35% 2011, 45% 2012, which provides the core and structure of the wine, and 20% 2014, which brings lift and freshness to the base. This is a fully evolved, deeply tertiary wine of noble ageing. The oak imprint is more present than in Único 2016, showing sweet spices, tobacco leaf, cigar box and supple leather. The tannins are exquisitely integrated – fine, silky and seamless – placing the wine in a beautiful plateau of maturity where it is likely to remain for many years. The finish reveals graphite, dried herbs, charred wood and a subtle note of Pu-erh tea on the back palate. Harmonious, contemplative and resonant, this is an orthodox Reserva Especial – a wine that always speaks patience.

The NV Único Reserva Especial 2025 Release was produced with a blend of wines from 2011, 2012 and 2013, with 14% alcohol, a pH of 3.86 and five grams of acidity. It has the core of the 2012, possibly the higher percentage in the blend too, which gives the power and structure with the freshness and tension of 2013, which also provides some balsamic characteristics, and less of the 2011. It has a very harmonious and subtle nose, and the wine shows extra complexity and elegance. It has the Único nose with more nuance and subtleness, but what I liked the most was the silky texture and the elegance of the tannins, as usual combining more developed characteristics with elegance and freshness. This is another stellar release of their non-vintage classical blend, slowly going back to the style of yesteryear. A total of 18,518 bottles and 261 magnums were produced. It was bottled in May 2021.

Reserva Especial is always a blend of three vintages, released after a decade or more in barrel and bottle when it is beginning to be ready to drink. The 2025 release partners two very good to excellent vintages (2011 and 2012) with one of the wettest in history (2013), but this is so much more than the sum of its parts. In fact, it's one of the great Vega Sicilias. Marrying Tinto Fino and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, it has layers of sweet spices, tobacco leaf, graphite and liquorice, blackberry and summer berry flavours, granular tannins and an attractive volatile lift. Wine doesn't get any better than this.