VEGA SICILIA DOPPELGANGER -5-YEAR OLD VINE, SINGLE VINEYARD RIBERA DEL DUERO
Drink if you like Vega Sicilia, Lopez de Heredia, or La Rioja Alta
We offered the 2014 vintage of this wine a few years ago, but we have received a tiny release of the EPIC 2010 vintage which Jancis Robinson described as "Exceptional" and Wine Spectator rated as the highest scoring vintage since 2004. While most of us are familiar with Vega Sicilia's Unico, I think the majority of collectors and wine enthusiasts haven't explored the wealth of exceptional bottlings that exist outside of this iconic estate. Ribera del Duero's focus on mostly monovarietal Tempranillo from gnarly, goblet-trained vines that are nearly a century in age makes this region worth a deep dive. Additionally, the top producers' seamless marriage of traditional techniques (made famous by producers in Rioja like Lopez de Heredia) and the lessons of 21st century winemaking science make this region a hotbed of world-class wines worthy and capable of decades of aging. The producer who I feel is the most overlooked PERIOD is Viña Sastre. While their Pésus bottling goes for $500-600 and is one of the most adored in all of Spain for savvy insider collectors, the winery remains mostly overlooked in the United States. The Viña Sastre Pago de Santa Cruz is a bottling that is released only in top years in a volume of less than 500 six-pack cases for the world market. The vineyard was planted in 1946, and its ancient vines remain dry-farmed and bush-trained as is traditional. It's a deeply colored opaque style, matured in a combination of used Amerrican and French Oak barrels for five years, resulting in an exuberant and complex explosion of ripe black fruits, wine-soaked cedar and sandalwood, vibrant baking spices, and scorched earth.
2500 bottle production.
