Bodegas y Viñedos Alion Ribera del Duero (2019)

Alión comes from carefully selected terroirs located in the very best areas of the Ribera del Duero DO region. The soils complement each other and allied with the same winemaking process used in Vega Sicilia, they have produced wines with a firm structure.

Reviews

95 James Suckling
Ripe, tarry plums and black cherries with violets, rocks, coffee and graphite. Refined notes of balsamic fruit and cocoa powder, too. Full-bodied and juicy with an iron fist of tannins, yet at the same time so velvety and polished. Very long, focused finish, showing lots of finesse and layers. Drinkable now, but better after 2025.

94 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Alión was cropped from a drier vintage compared with the average, and the wines from that year tend to be powerful, concentrated and with structure. They shortened the maceration by 11 days and used concrete for part of the élevage, trying to reduce the impact from the oak in the wine. They define 2019 as a powerful, concentrated and juicy vintage, sensual and unctuous. The wine is ripe at 15% alcohol and has mellow acidity (4.4 grams) and a pH of 3.88, reflecting the warm and dry year that delivered powerful and concentrated wines, similar to the wines from 2015. It's quite fruit-driven, ripe and juicy, with abundant, slightly dusty tannins despite the limited pumping over they did to avoid extracting too much, and the maceration was also shortened.

92 Wine Spectator
A tightly-meshed red structured by firm, chalky tannins, but there's a plush, polished edge to that frame, and it's well meshed with a pretty range of boysenberry coulis, violet, mocha and Earl Grey tea leaf flavor. Hints of tar and black licorice linger on the juicy finish. Drink now through 2029.