Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 1976 Único was produced with 60% Tinto Fino, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot and 2% Malbec and Albillo with 13.5% alcohol, and it probably aged longer in oak and was possibly bottled at different times according to demand. There might be some bottle variation in the old wines (like elsewhere in the world, it was not the same as today...), and the 1970s were not the best decade for Único. But this 1976 was quite good, better than the 1972 but not as good as the 1974, ripe, juicy and a bit liquorous, despite keeping the poise at 13.5% alcohol. It's tasty and supple, rounder and with more volume, more in the style of the rounder years. Production was "only" 37,000 bottles and 1,500 magnums. Artwork by Florencio Galindo. Even if the appellation didn't exist when these grapes were harvested, the old vintages were later given the appellation of origin.
Critic scores
Average Score
Neal Martin
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
60% Tinto Fino, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 2% Malbec and Albillo. April frosts delayed budding; otherwise, normal weather conditions. Harvest 8 October. 37,000 bottles and 1,500 magnums. From magnum. Pale ruby. A little simpler on the nose and more obviously sweet on the palate than the 1980. Just holding on… Violets and liquorice. (JR)
Not quite as hot as in Bordeaux – or UK. Smells as though there is some TCA here. But the fruit is sound and vibrant with dried herbs. It is easy to see that what was brought into the bodega was pretty smart. Difficult to mark this. If you are at all sensitive to TCA, avoid! If not that much, go by my score. (JR)
A year with average rain, a cold winter and a mild spring. The vegetative cycle was long, with less sun than average and slow maturation. The harvest started on 12 October. 70% Tinto Fino, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot, Malbec and Albillo (a local white grape usually found together with the reds in old vineyards). The wine spent 24 months in big oak vats followed by another 24 months in 575-litre 'bocoyes', three years in used barriques and a further 30 months in large vats. It was a short vintage, bottled in 37,500 bottles and 1,500 magnums. The DO did not exist at the time of the harvest, but as the bottles were sold in 1987 and 1988 (and the magnums in 1990) it got the DO label. A ripe wine, it hints at a powerful vintage. Very balsamic (menthol), it develops slowly in the nose. The mouth is powerful and persistent. (LG)
About the producer
Vega Sicilia is undoubtably Spain’s most famous winery; a true icon in fine wine with a history dating back to 1864.