Very impressive red plums and the Alion has a very approachable feel to it, supple and even. The nose delivers some savory, slightly tarry and earthy character with a classic, direct and easy-to-understand feel. Some dried flowers, too. The palate has medium body and delivers fleshy, round red cherries, gently savory, spicy elements and fine, long and detailed tannins. A great Alion, full of flavor, very fresh. Drink across the next 15 years.
Youthful purple. An expansive, highly complex bouquet evokes ripe dark berries, incense, candied flowers and vanilla, and a smoky mineral flourish adds urgency and lift. Sweet and seamless on entry, offering palate-staining blackberry, cherry compote and spicecake flavors and suggestions of mocha and cola. Tightens up steadily on the back half but shows no hard edges. Finishes with excellent, dark-berry-driven tenacity and smooth tannins coming in slowly.
Produced with 100% Tinto Fino or Tempranillo grapes in a modern and fruit-forward style with generous oak, the 2015 Alión is juicy and intense, cropped from a warm and dry year that delivered a 15% alcohol red that is voluptuous and hedonistic. It matured for 12 to 14 months in oak barrels, mostly French and mostly new. At first I found it quite ripe, with black rather than red fruit, a little earthy and with a touch of licorice and ink. The palate reveals abundant, slightly dusty tannins without the quality they had in 2014; it's a little dry on the finish, a riper and more powerful vintage of Alión. The nose improved tremendously with time in the glass as it opened up, but the tannins remained quite present. It might need a little more time in bottle to polish those edges. 230,730 bottles and some larger formats where produced. It was bottled in June 2017.
Aromas of violet, blackberry and plum toggle between fruity and floral, while this ripe-year Tempranillo feels a touch heavy, with hard tannins. Baked blackberry and black-tea flavors culminate on a short finish, with minty oak notes and scrubbing tannins. Drink through 2026.
Loamy earth and tobacco notes mingle with plum, currant and licorice flavors in this solid red. Firm tannins and clean acidity keep this balanced. Not showy, but harmonious. Drink now through 2027. 19,228 cases made, 2,470 cases imported.
Alión was intended to be the more ‘modern’ wine from Ribera del Duero, and it takes younger grapes from Vega Sicilia, as well as some fruit from key villages. The wine has a dark, smoky profile with a dense palate laden with black fruit and liquorice. It’s tight and intense, with a brooding, savoury character. The tannins are still firm, and the wine will benefit from more time in the bottle to settle down.