95pts 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.

94pts 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.

92pts 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.

Winemaker Notes

Alión is made up of a careful selection of terroirs distributed throughout the best areas of the Ribera del Duero designation of origin. These soils that complement each other, together with the same viticulture that is done in Vega Sicilia, have given rise to wines with a firm structure.

2019 was a drier than normal vintage and this was reflected during the grape tasting. Powerful, concentrated skins, but with a very firm structure. It was essential to work from the infusion and that resulted in a vintage where we reduced the total fermentation period to about 11 days. There was a batch that we refined before going to the barrel and in this type of vintage it is important to reduce the impact of the wood and the roasting. The contribution of cement helped us work on the verticality and freshness of the wines.

2019 was a powerful, concentrated, juicy vintage, but from that sensual and unctuous side.