Vega Sicilia 'Alion' Ribera del Duero 2019

Winemaker Notes: Ground-breaking and independent, and the result of the evolution of a famous family of great wines. Recognized, distinguished and praised for the authenticity of its temperament, Alión today symbolises a universal and forward—looking spirit. Wine produced using the Tinto Fino variety. The grapes are harvest by hand in 12-kg boxes and are taken immediately to the winery to the sorting tables. Fermentation takes place in wooden tanks under controlled temperatures until a good polyphenolic structure is obtained which will provide the generous colour and firm structure that makes up part of the personality of this wine; and finally the ageing of between 12 and 14 months, depending on the characteristics of the vintage, is performed in full in new French oak Bordeaux barrels. These barrels, from the leading Bordeaux firms, are a significant investment in oak as, harvest after harvest, all the wine that is produced in Alión will be aged in new barrels that, after the wine is decanted to be bottle, will not be used again by the winery. Once the wine is removed from the barrels, it will remain no less than 15 months in the stillness of the bottle, where it will end up assembling all the primary aromas of the fruit with the hues from its delicate ageing, resulting in an intense, complex and fleshy wine, but where the elegance is a distinguishing feature and hallmark of the winery. Points: 94 - Robert Parker "The 2019 Alión was cropped from a drier vintage compared with the average, and the wines from that year tend to be powerful, concentrated and with structure. They shortened the maceration by 11 days and used concrete for part of the élevage, trying to reduce the impact from the oak in the wine. They define 2019 as a powerful, concentrated and juicy vintage, sensual and unctuous. The wine is ripe at 15% alcohol and has mellow acidity (4.4 grams) and a pH of 3.88, reflecting the warm and dry year that delivered powerful and concentrated wines, similar to the wines from 2015. It's quite fruit-driven, ripe and juicy, with abundant, slightly dusty tannins despite the limited pumping over they did to avoid extracting too much, and the maceration was also shortened. 256,526 bottles, 7,005 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in June 2021."