2015 Marques de Murrieta Gran Reserva

The Marques de Murrieta Gran Reserva Limited Edition also comes from the own Ygay vineyards in the Rioja Alta which is without a doubt the very best part of this famous Spanish wine region. The altitude provides coolness and a good difference between day and night temperatures and this is an important element that gives a wine its sophistication and elegance. Marqués de Murrieta is one of the oldest wineries of the Rioja and is a winery with a 'bordeaux injection'

As the name suggests, this Gran Reserva ripens for a long time and the edition of the Gran Reserva is very limited. The Murrieta Gran Reserva is only made in the best years and is a blend 80% Tempranillo, 9% Mazuelo, 8% Garnacha, 3% Graciano. The grapes are first destemmed and then fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks for 9 days, with constant skin contact. During fermentation, the wine remains in motion, which ensures effective and soft color and aroma extraction. Then the solid parts of the must/grapes are crushed in a vertical press. This is done very gently and this process extracts even more color and ripe tannins from the grape skin. The wine is then aged for 29-34 months in 225 liter oak barrels. The wine was bottled in mid-2019 and then had more than 3 years of cellar maturation.

In the glass, the Murrieta Gran Reserva Limited Edition is bright red in color with evolved nuances. In the nose notes of surprisingly red and black fruit, but after some oxygen, notes of spices, leather and cedar wood also appear in the bouquet. On the palate, the wine is medium-to-full bodied with fine-grained tannins. Again the fruit splashes in the mouth but everything is very well accompanied by a nice acidity and a lot of fragrance and elegance in the final. We recommend decanting the wine 30 minutes before serving and a serving temperature of 16-18°C.

This beauty of a wine stands out especially with dishes with many flavors such as game (e.g. hare), a juicy ribeye and then you can enjoy beautiful side dishes such as roasted pumpkin, dried fruit and fermented garlic, but in Spain they also like to drink this wine with grilled bream with roasted spring onion, red wine and beetroot cream or with sorbet with chocolate chips.

All the vineyards of Finca Ygay (Marqués de Murrieta), together about 300 hectares, are located at the bodega and are owned by the family. The now completely renovated Castillo Ygay is the headquarters of Marqués de Murrieta. Finca Ygay has significant differences in soil. The altitude of the vineyards varies from 300 to 500 m and the area falls under Rioja Alta. These differences in soil conditions give Murrieta the opportunity to produce varied wines.

Due to its relatively cool location, this area is extremely suitable for the production of the most refined wines. The largest vineyard: Valsalado produces the grapes for the Murrieta Reserva. The highest part of the domain is called La Plana. The grapes from this area (Tempranillo and Mazuelo), from old vines on loam, form the basis of the world-famous Gran Reserva Especial Castillo Ygay (made only in good years) and of the excellent white wine Capellania. This wine has matured for 15 months in French oak; a Burgundian wine, but also a beautiful and modern white Rioja. The slightly lower vineyard Las Canajas, where Cabernet Sauvignon was planted in the 1980s, has a soil of pebbles and calcareous clay. Since 1994, the grapes from this area have formed the basis for Dalmau, the "modern" Murrieta, named after Vicente Dalmau Jr., one of the current owners.

Read more about this famous house under the tab: Wijnhuis and click here for a nice video impression of Marques de Murrieta.

FACT : At Marques de Murrieta, just like us, people attach great importance to the good treatment of the wines, so as befits a good winery as well as a good wine supplier, no transport is done during the warm summer months. We do not do this either and if absolutely necessary we do this via (more expensive) refrigerated transport to avoid the wines being in hot trucks for days. These (extremely) hot temperatures are not only funnest for the top wines, but are seriously damaging for any wine. Murrieta also has a watertight system with numbered bottles so that you can always find out which importer has sold the bottle, because they only want to work with parties that can meet the quality requirements.