Marques de Murrieta
Rioja Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva
Rioja Alta
2009

The producer

The Marques de Murrieta, now owned by the Conde de Creixell is a true “estate” winery – it only draws grapes from their own 300ha of vineyards that surround the original bodega and the new winery. The “Finca Ygay” being the name of the original property purchased in the 1870s and still the core of the estate.

Murrieta is an estate that is in no hurry, an estate that is happy for the wines to age before release. The Rioja blanca Capelania is released with several years age while the Castello Ygay Blanco Gran Reserva Especial lives up to its “special” tag. Aged for 20 years in oak and five in tank before release, it is a Rioja icon.

The reds start at Reserva level with increasing release age moving up the scale, although nothing like the white. The Castillo Ygay Grand Reserva Especial includes over 10% Mazuelo and is released at approximately ten years old. The “modern” Dalmau is a single vineyard blend of Tempranillo with 15% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Graciano released younger.

The wine

Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial is Murrieta’s flagship wine and sourced from the best grapes in the 40-hectare La Plana vineyard planted in 1950 and located 485 meters above sea level at the estate in Rioja Alta. Usually a blend of 85% Tempranillo, with the remainder Mazuelo, this cuvee is only produced in selected vintages. Fruit is destemmed and then fermentated for 10-12 days with regular pumping over and punch downs.

The Tempranillo then ages for 28 months in small American oak barrels and Mazuelo ages for a similar period but in small French oak barrels. Frequently achieving late 90 point scores by key critics in both the UK and US, this is an endlessly complex and compelling wine with great structure and infinite length, and likely ageing potential as well.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.