Vega Sicilia – Valbuena 5 2016 (750ml)

Winemaker Notes

Valbuena is the purest expression of red wine at Vega Sicilia and is aged for five years between barrel and bottle, which lends its name to the end product. Valbuena 5 2016 is the perfect balance between elegance, complexity and concentration. Pure harmony.

Blend: 94% Tinto Fino & 6% Merlot

Critical Acclaim

W&S96
Wine & Spirits

The 2016 Valbuena has the exuberant energy of spring, cool and sunny with scents of Queen Annes lace and wild anise. Then it turns toward summery tomatoes, deeper tones of green figs and dark plums. Theres a ginger note in the finish, an earthiness reminiscent of the soil\’s crystalized gypsum. A remarkably elegant Valbuena, this is a wine to covet for your cellar.

RP96
Robert Parker\’s Wine Advocate
The 2016 Valbuena was produced with a blend of 94% Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) and 6% Merlot from 140 hectares dedicated to this wine. It fermented with indigenous yeasts, and the first year it matured in barrels (75% French, 25% American) and the second year in large oak vats. This is again a floral and elegant vintage of Valbuena, very much in line with what has happened in the best vintages since 2010. 2016 is going to be a wine that the public is going to like; it has an extroverted personality and is perfumed and generous, juicy and tasty and nicely textured, with fine-grained tannins and very focused and clean flavors. 2016 was a year of very good freshness in Ribera del Duero, a year they like even better than 2018. 182,882 bottles, 6,030 magnums and a few larger formats were produced. It was bottled in June 2019.
JS95
James Suckling

Gorgeous aromas of blackberries, black chocolate and shitake mushrooms follow through to a full body with round, plush tannins that are corduroy in texture. The flavors are intense, but not overdone. Drink now.

WS94
Wine Spectator

This red shows both power and finesse, with generous flavors of ripe red plum and currant accented with anise, cedar, olive and wild herb. Spice and loamy earth notes fine-tune the finish. Tinto Fino and Merlot.