The history of Vega Sicilia is one of the most enriched and captivating, and also one of the most chronicled, and at Decántalo, we too wish to echo the legend that propelled Spain's most iconic winery and one of the world's most admired.
It begins with Don Eloy Lacanda's father, Don Toribio, a wealthy landowner of Basque origin who, in 1848, rescued the Marqués de Valbuena, a Castilian nobleman facing dire financial straits, by purchasing a two-thousand-hectare estate from him.
In 1859, Don Eloy inherited the property from his father, which at that time was a conglomerate of livestock, orchards, gypsum and ceramics sales, and five years later, he traveled to Bordeaux to buy 18,000 vine cuttings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, and Pinot Noir, which he planted on the estate alongside Garnacha Tinta and Tinto Aragonés, with a greater focus on producing brandies and ratafías. In 1876, at the Philadelphia Exhibition, Lecanda received a quality certificate for his brandies, and that year he became a supplier to the Royal Household.
Nevertheless, he also produced some wine, as revealed by an advertisement from the era promoting a “Table wine from Châteaux Margot (sic) plants,” which allowed him to receive the National Agriculture Award in 1882 for his contribution of foreign grape varieties.
However, six years later, Lecanda faced a severe crisis that led him to sell the estate to Antonio Herrero Vázquez, who added the lands of Santa Cecilia, Valdecarros, and El Carrascal to the property. From this point, the winery had several names: Lacanda, Hijos de Antonio Herrero, Vega Sicilia, and Carrascal, and its current Vega Sicilia.
The name "Sicilia" refers to the small church of Santa Sicilia, located on the estate, just a kilometer from the winery. In 1904, the Herrero family leased the estate to the Riojan Cosme Palacio, under whose guidance Txomin Garramiola arrived at the winery, a crucial figure in Vega Sicilia's history as he began employing Bordeaux techniques for winemaking. It was at this time that the first bottled wines appeared with the two enduring brands: Vega Sicilia and Valbuena, vinified in the Rioja style, with long aging in barrels and casks and bottling on demand.
In fact, it is uncertain whether the first Vega Sicilia dates from 1917 or 1915, aside from the estate selling bottled wine before these years, but what is certain is that the first bottles adorned with a simple black and white label were introduced by Luís Herrero, a bachelor, hunting enthusiast, and well-connected with the upper bourgeoisie and aristocracy, who gifted them to good friends through the Sociedad de Tiro de Pichón. This unusual circumstance sparked the legend of Spain's most expensive wine and the myth: it was a wine that could not be bought with money, but with friendship.
Thus, some years passed, and despite the 1917 and 1918 vintages reaching the highest acclaim with awards such as the one from the 1929 Barcelona Universal Exhibition, the winery remained unprofitable, leading the Herrero family to sell the property to Prodes, a seed company, in 1951, with Jesús Anadón, a pivotal figure for Vega Sicilia, joining the team.
However, Venezuelan entrepreneur Hans Neumann tasted the wine in New York, fell in love with it, and purchased the winery and estate from the Herrero family in 1966, although he rarely visited it, until in 1982, the Álvarez family was tasked with handling its sale, but ultimately made an offer to Neumann, and it was the Álvarez family who acquired the winery and vineyards of Vega Sicilia. At that time, Jesús Anadón retired, and Pablo Álvarez assumed full control of the winery's general management, while Mariano García, Anadón's assistant, took charge of the oenological area, and after overseeing 20 vintages, he founded his own winery, Mauro.
Under the leadership of the Álvarez family, with the 1987 vintage, one of the winery's historic wines, Valbuena 3º Año, was discontinued, the vineyard began to expand to its current 200 hectares, and Mariano García modernized the winery's wines by shortening the aging periods. The winery established itself in both the national and international markets, and in 1992, the former Bodegas Liceo, now Bodegas y Viñedos Alión, were acquired, and in 1993, international expansion began with the purchase of the Tokaj Oremus winery in Hungary, thus forming the first two wineries that would belong to the Tempos Vega Sicilia group (2014), where Xavier Ausàs assumed the technical direction of the group of wineries, after working for six years as an oenologist at Vega Sicilia.
At the dawn of the new millennium, the group of wineries expanded with the purchase and establishment of Bodegas Pintia, in Toro, and in 2009, they began producing in the DOC Rioja alongside the Rothschild family, owners of a part of the legendary Château Lafite and other viticultural properties worldwide, creating together, on a 50% basis, Bodega Benjamín de Rothschild & Vega Sicilia.
Over the years, and with a steady yet discreet approach, in 2010, Vega Sicilia inaugurated what is likely the most modern and exemplary production facility, where the soil map of the entire estate is reflected, the result of exceptional work in vineyard parceling. David Álvarez Díez, the president and founder of the Eulen Group and Bodegas Vega Sicilia, passed away in November 2015, and his son Pablo Álvarez continues as the CEO of Vega Sicilia.
The latest news concerning Vega Sicilia is the departure of oenologist Xavier Ausàs in mid-2015, after 24 harvests at the winery, and the appointment of Gonzalo Iturriaga as the new technical director, a Madrid native with a Riojan father, who began his career at the Ribera del Duero winery Alonso del Yerro; then spent five years as an oenologist at Bodegas Habla in Extremadura, and later served as export director for Lamothe-Abiet, a company specializing in oenological products.
The Estate
Currently, the Vega Sicilia estate spans 970 hectares, with its viticultural area covering over 200 hectares of vineyards, situated on the southern slopes of the Duero basin, between Valbuena and Quintanilla, just two hundred meters from the winery. It is home to the Tinto Fino variety, comprising 85% of the total vineyard, along with some Albillo, as well as the Bordeaux-origin varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Malbec, which have been planted on the estate for over a century, acclimating over the years to form a well-rooted vine with the local ecosystem, where a significant portion of the vineyards exhibit their Mediterranean bush-trained vine system, but also feature the Atlantic model with extensive trellised vineyards.
The manor-house winery has been expanded twice, in 1970 and 1982, and its façade is made of sober Castilian brick, monastic in style. Within the estate, there is also a chapel where over a hundred years ago, Eloy Lacanda fulfilled his spiritual obligations, now serving as a simple devotional ornament. Today, the winery boasts an advanced production facility equipped with 81 tanks to work independently by parcels, cold chambers, sophisticated sorting tables, a system designed to work by gravity and pour the grapes directly into each tank, and even an elevator vat that transports the wine to a lower level for barrel filling. No barrel exceeds six years of age, and the American oak barrels continue to be crafted in-house, now in a new, larger, mechanized, and efficient cooperage.
Work Philosophy
One of the most important pillars of Vega Sicilia lies in the vineyard. As an anecdote and example of the care and attention given to the vineyard, it is worth mentioning the metal fans installed on the estates to prevent frost.
The more than 200 hectares surrounding the winery have undergone a thorough analysis and clonal selection of the varieties for over a decade, resulting in a comprehensive soil map with 19 different typologies, which have been re-parceled into 50 plots.
This edaphological diversity is reflected in the new production facility, which has increased from 20 tanks to 90, where two-thirds are stainless steel and the rest are oak vats, with the aim of producing each plot independently. From a technical standpoint, working with 50 lots for the final blend allows for even greater refinement of quality, although production remains unchanged.
On the other hand, taking advantage of the experience and excellent results of the refrigerated grape chambers installed in 2001 at their Toro winery Pintia, the new production facility also incorporated them, allowing for wines with more aromatic components, color, and flavor. Once the grapes, perfectly identified in each box with their exact origin, are at the required low temperature, the selection of clusters begins on sorting tables, where a team of workers certifies that the work done in the vineyard is perfect.
From here, the cluster ascends to the destemmer, which separates the stem from the berries, and these return to another sorting table, this time for grapes, where eight people in two lines inspect them one by one to remove stems and damaged grapes.
From here, they move to mini-tanks where exactly 500 kilos are poured, which, via a rail system, reach the largest fermentation tanks of 6,000 and 8,000 liters, although there are also 500, 800, and 1,000-liter tanks for special micro-vinifications, as well as 22 large wooden vats.
The Vega Sicilia wines undergo alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in this facility, and subsequently move to the aging area, utilizing another of the most striking innovations of the new winery: a large elevator tank, with only one other in the world, at Château Cos d’Estournel (Bordeaux), which allows the wine to be moved by gravity, respecting the verticality system of traditional wineries that avoids the use of pumps that could stress the product.
After vinification, all wines are transferred to large wooden vats where they remain for a time until, after tasting, they are designated for what will become their base wines. After this phase, all wines pass through new barrels to acquire structure, tannins, and aging potential, before being transferred again, this time to used barrels to integrate wine and wood, and from here, they return to the large vats to regain their fruit and qualities. This process extends for three years in the case of Valbuena 5º and between six and nine, depending on the vintage, for Único. The production is completed in the winery's bottle cellar, where the wines will remain refining before being marketed through the famous quota system.
Vega Sicilia has always been concerned with environmental care, where new constructions scrupulously comply with the most stringent international environmental standards (ISO 14001). Thus, there is a separation between wastewater and those from various cleaning and disinfection tasks, never coming into contact with each other to avoid potential contamination. Similarly, all solid waste from the plastics in which the various raw materials used (barrels, bottles, phytosanitary products,...) or paper (packaging boxes) are wrapped is compacted and deposited in a designated "clean point" to contain these wastes until they are collected by specialized companies for treatment.
Vega Sicilia Wines
The wines of Vega Sicilia need no introduction. Currently, it markets three types of wine: the red reserve Valbuena 5º, which is not released until its fifth year, the Vega Sicilia Único until the tenth, and the Vega Sicilia Único Reserva Especial, when the youngest of the three vintages that compose it has surpassed a decade.
Valbuena 5º is the purest expression of Tinto Fino, the predominantly used grape. The other variety employed is Merlot, which participates to a greater or lesser extent depending on the vintage. The Tempranillo of Valbuena is sourced from parcels located on gently sloping concave hillsides descending from the plateau slopes. These soils originate from material that eroded and accumulated as colluvium on the lower slopes, developing a highly expressive soil with significant evolution, concretized by the formation of a calcic horizon in depth. Valbuena offers a direct view of this terroir with the direct influence of each vintage. The wine ferments at controlled temperatures in stainless steel tanks with native yeast. The malolactic fermentation also takes place in stainless steel, and after fermentation, it undergoes aging, between wood and bottle, for five years, hence the name Valbuena 5º. French and American wood, new and used 225-liter barrels, and 20,000-liter vats.
Vega Sicilia Único is the benchmark of Vega Sicilia. It is a wine in which the qualities of Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon are blended in varying proportions depending on the vintage, along with small percentages of Merlot and Malbec, where each contributes a distinguishing element, and together create a unique style. The vines are cultivated in parcels with soils located at the junction between slopes descending from the plateau and the alluvial plain. The most superficial soil is composed of fine hillside colluvium with small limestone fragments, and in depth, abundant quartzitic gravels appear in a sandy matrix. On the surface, angular limestone pebbles abound. The wine undergoes fermentation at controlled temperatures in wooden tanks with native yeast. The malolactic fermentation also takes place in wood, and after fermentation, it undergoes what is likely the longest aging process in the world for a red wine: nearly 10 years between wood and bottle. It passes through different stages in various types of barrels, French and American, new and used 225-liter barrels, 20,000-liter vats, and each lot determines the type of wood and the duration in each vessel. After its time in wood, it ages in the bottle to complete a complex and lengthy aging process. Under normal conditions, it will spend 6 years in wood and three in the bottle.
Vega Sicilia Único Reserva Especial is the red wine without a vintage, and it is a tribute to tradition with which the winery wishes to continue a very old Spanish custom: to blend the balance between vintages. Traditionally, in Spain, the very few wineries that had a bottling process produced two types of wines in each harvest: the current year's wine and another wine without a specific vintage, called "Reserva Especial.” It was a blend of wines from the best vintages, creating the most representative wine of the winery. The Reserva Especial is the wine with the most personality, combining the complexity of Único multiplied by several vintages and offering a complex and intense aromatic and gustatory range. Only the best Únicos are used to create the Reserva Especial, a blend of years, virtues, experiences, and feelings that only serve to refine the essence of Vega Sicilia's unique and unrepeatable style.
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