Alión 2016

The highly anticipated 2016 Alión spent 12 months in oak barrels, 80% of them new and built mainly with French oak but with some 5% American oak, and some 10% of the volume matured in 15,000-liter concrete vats. It hits the scale at 15% alcohol and has moderate acidity, showing ripe black fruit and a creamy texture. 2016 has to be one of the freshest and most elegant vintages of Alión, a year with depth, freshness and terrific balance. Same as they do in Pintia, they are finding ways to lower the impact of the oak in the wine; here, they used concrete, and the wine shows more primary and floral aromas and is nicely textured and with fine tannins. 258,458 bottles, 7,017 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in June 2018.

They renewed the Alión facilities in 2018 to include smaller vats so they could ferment smaller plots separately and increase the use of concrete for the wine's élevage.

A very savory and succulent Alion with so much complexity of flavor with berries, chocolate and dried meat. Some cedar, too. Full body. Vertical and very long. Purity of fruit and tannins to this wine. Needs two or three years to soften. Release in 2020. Better after 2022.

There was a time (until recently) when Alión sat in Vega Sicilia's shadow. It was the neighbour, and all too obviously the junior partner, without an apparent sense of direction. With this vintage, it has made a real step forward. It starts with vivid red fruit aromatics, charming the drinker. Notes of subtle oak follow through. The palate is plump, with a developing rasp of tannin, showing notes as of very fine Florentine leather. Finally the line of acidity comes through to refresh the finish.