2016 Marques de Murrieta Capellania Reserva Blanco

Marqués de Murrieta is one of the classic greats in the Rioja. This company only makes high quality wines, while sticking to the traditional way of winemaking. A good example of this is this white Capellanía, coming from a piece of Viura vineyard of the same name and which is part of the famous Castillo Ygay domain.

We had to wait a long time for the 2016 vintage of the Marqués de Murrieta Capellanía. At Murietta, the tradition, the knowledge and the fruit to allow wines to mature for a very long time in the barrel. Examples are, for example, the 1986 white Ygay that was only released after 30 years and from 2016 it has also been decided to give the Capellania a longer aging (barriques, concrete and bottle maturation). The grapes for the white Rioja come from a plot of the Ygay vineyard from which the wine gets its name; it is their highest plot at 485 meters altitude. The grapes were picked on 3 and 4 October from the only six hectares, and the must from the pressing of the clusters was fermented at 10 degrees Celsius in stainless steel and of course without malolactic fermentation. The low temperature ensures a very long fermentation so that all the beauty that the Ygay fruit gives can be absorbed. After fermentation, the wine matures in new French oak barrels (225 liter barriques) where the wine matures for 16 months and then it was kept in concrete to further integrate in peace and then the wine was bottled for more than a year. The Cappelania has 13.5% alcohol and a very good freshness and acidity. The long aging time marks the wine to a great extent. The slow oxidation creates a classic white Rioja aroma with a lot of complexity. Renowned for its great culinary versatility!

The Cappelania still has decent oak tones but with some aging this will integrate great and like all Murrieta wines this is a wine for the medium and long term. Even after a few hours in the glass or after being decanted, the wine becomes wonderfully harmonious. The palate is structured, rich and serious, with a chalky sensation and a long, dry and tasty, almost salty finish. This wine has all the potential for great aging (20+ years). The wine was only bottled at the end of January 2020 and will not be released until the spring of 2021.

We recommend decanting the wine a few minutes before serving to allow it to cool down and then release its full aromatic potential. Do not drink the wine too cold (as with many high end white wines) Recommended temperature around 13 ° -14 ° C