Vega Sicilia

Vega Sicilia was founded in 1864 by Eloy Lecanda y Chaves, trained in Bordeaux, who brought Bordeaux varieties to Castile — Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec — and planted them alongside Tinto Fino, in Valbuena de Duero (Valladolid). The first Único dates from 1915, made by the winemaker Txomin Garramiola.

In 1982 it was bought by the Álvarez family, who later founded Alión (1991) and Pintia (1997). Mariano García was its winemaker from 1968 to 1998, and in 1978 he founded Bodegas Mauro on his own, in Tudela de Duero.

The estate covers almost a thousand hectares in Valbuena de Duero. Único reaches the market after more than ten years of ageing. Valbuena 5º takes its name from the five years the wine spends in the winery before release, between barrel, wooden vat and bottle. The 2020 vintage is 97% Tinto Fino and 3% Merlot, from vines of about 35 years between 720 and 930 metres on clay-limestone soils.