From: Ribera del Duero, Spain

Varietal: Tempranillo

Alion was launched with the 1991 vintage by the famous Vega Sicilia estate. Inspired by the "modern classic" style of top Bordeaux, owner Pablo Alvarez wished to adapt this style of wine to the unique climate and soils in the western Ribera del Duero. Around half the grapes come from Vega Sicilia vineyards, the other half from Alion's own vineyards near Penafiel. The wine is made by Javier Ausas, head winemaker of Vega Sicilia, at Alion's dedicated, state-of-the-art winery. Alion is certainly a modern wine, an opulent and seductive 100% Tempranillo aged for 14 months in new French oak barrels, but - as one would expect from Vega Sicilia - there is nothing over-the-top about the wine. Not overripe, overextracted or overoaked, it is all about elegance, harmony, class...and sheer hedonistic pleasure.

Robert Parker of Wine Advocate gives this wine a 94/100 saying,"2014 is a better vintage in Ribera del Duero than in Rioja, and the 2014 Alión, shows it. Sourced from 130 hectares of Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) in Ribera del Duero and possibly the most modern of the Vega Sicilia Group wines, it's silky, voluptuous and jammy, ripe and generous without being too much. The grapes fermented with indigenous yeasts in oak vats, and the wine matured in new and second use French barriques for 12 to 14 months. It's quite ripe and powerful yet balanced and with great freshness. The palate is medium to full-bodied with lots of fruit, juicy and showy, modern without excess. 284,284 bottles along with 6,500 magnums and some larger formats were produced. You might want to give it some more time in bottle. It was bottled in June 2016."

92 Points -Wine Enthusiast