Just a few days ago my business partner Kelly and I had the unique opportunity to share a truly special experience with two guests and friends of Salut! Wine Co., Genaro Torres and Joel Bryant.  Joel purchased Salut!'s only bottle of Vega-Sicilia's Unico Reserva Especial to congratulate Genaro on a recent promotion and to commemorate years of friendship.  Joel and Genaro were generous in their sharing of this bottle with us.

Vega-Sicilia's "Unico" is arguably the finest wine Spain produces.  In great years, Unico will be released with a Vintage Date, indicating the year the grapes were harvested.  When especially noteworthy batches of wine are recognized, Vega-Sicilia will blend vintages and release a non-vintage-dated "Reserva Especial".  This Reserva is therefore the best of the best from the best of Spain.  It sells for over $250 per bottle when you can find it...only 7 bottles of the Reserva Especial were sent to Washington last year.  (More readily available is Vega-Sicilia's "Valbuena", still a stellar red blend of Tempranillo and Merlot but selling for 'only' $80, or their secondary property Bodegas Alion's red selling for $35)

The Cabernet and Merlot vines that are used in the blended Unico were planted over 150 years ago from Bordeaux cuttings, before the Phyloxera louse destroyed all of France's vines in the last half of the 19th century.  Replanted in Spain, the vines have gone through several generations of vine life cycles, with each cycle producing a vine with a slightly altered DNA structure better suited to Spain's climate & soil, resulting in Cabernet and Merlot vines unique (hence the Spanish name 'Unico', meaning "Unique") to the Vega-Sicilia vineyards and nowhere else.  Blended with the Tinto Fino (a local name for Tempranillo) grape known almost exclusively to Spain, Unico becomes a red blend truly available from no other winemaker.

I have created a separate document to tell you all About Unico if you would like to know more.  You can also find more information about Vega-Sicilia by visiting the Vega-Sicilia website.

After Salut! closed on Thursday night, Kelly used her Salut! Catering skills to put together a few appetizers suited to the occasion, and the four of us sat down to enjoy the Unico.  We popped open a bottle of Bodegas Muga '98 Reserva to provide a reference point, since the Muga is considered by all of us to be an excellent example of an everyday Spanish red wine.  Then, we opened the bottle of Unico (bottle no. 8832 of 14000 produced) and took our first sips.  We chose not to decant this wine, knowing that most of the sediment had been left behind as the wine was transferred many times from barrel to barrel during the active production cycle lasting many years.  It didn't need any more aeration than pouring the wine into our glasses would provide, and we planned to enjoy each moment of the wine as it evolved with the air throughout the evening.  

The first sip was exactly as one would predict for his wine...it has a decidedly oxidized note, courtesy of the air contact during long barrel aging.  It needed to open up a bit with the air, but already we could sense the beauty and balance of this wine.  It took 2 1/2 hours for the four of us to drink 3/4ths of the bottle, leaving the remainder for Genaro.  We took sips randomly from both wines, comparing the flavors and textures to each other.  We compared each wine to the appetizers to see how each reacted with the foods.  We talked about special events and friendships.  We admired the wonderful aromas of the Unico collecting in the glass.  It took time to enjoy the wine's amazing textures. 

Just as the "best dancer" isn't simply the fastest or strongest, the beauty of Unico didn't come from uncommon strength or flavors.  Instead, it came from the wonderful balance it displayed.  The best dancers will be those that make beautiful dancing seem effortless and flawless.  So too will the best wines show an effortless beauty, with flavors so delicate and balanced that comparing them to black cherries and chocolate does them a disservice.  Not once during the entire evening did any one of us describe the flavor of Unico by conventional terms, nor did giving a numbered score seem appropriate.  Great wines are reflections of history and culture, of art and dedication, of perseverance and knowledge.  Imagine seeing the Mona Lisa hanging next to Monet's Water Lilies and declaring "I give the Mona Lisa a 98 out of 100.  Monet gets a score of ...". 

To me, the wine floated across my tongue like silk.  The balance was so effortless that huge level of acids blended into the background as elegant flavors loaded my mouth and nose.   By comparison, our favorite Muga was falling like wood onto our palate.  For hours I was able to revel in the strength of the beauty of the Unico one wonderful sip at a time.

So "is it worth that much"?  For $300, the four of us enjoyed a truly gorgeous part of history, shared important memories from our past, strengthened a friendship, expanded our understanding of a culture and industry, and built a new memory that we'll all remember for many, many years.   That's about $75 per person.  Do most people remember every time they've spent $75 for a nice dinner?  I can't...some of my experiences were at most very ordinary. 

This bottle was most definitely worth it.