Marqués de Murrieta is the oldest family-owned estate in Rioja, it was founded in 1852 by Luciano Francisco Ramón de Murrieta, one of the founding fathers of modern Rioja winemaking, who used French techniques to develop greater complexity and longevity from Tempranillo, sourced all grapes from a single estate and established the Ygay estate near Logroño in Rioja Alta.
Luciano was made the Marqués de Murrieta by Queen Isabel II and, after his death in 1911, the bodega was taken over by the Olivares family and then in 1983 by D. Vicente Cebrián-Sagarriga, Count of Creixell. The new owner sadly died in 1996 leaving his 24-year-old son, Vicente Dalmau Cebrián-Sagarriga to run the estate.
Roger Jones and Vicente Dalmau (l-r) Castillo Ygay 2012 launch
Pazo de Barrantes
Dalmau has and always has had a vision for his wines and I was delighted to see how he and his head winemaker, María Vargas, have achieved an incredible transformation with these wines, particularly the two whites from their Rias Baixas estate. He has elevated the humble Albariño grape into a Grand Cru or, in their words, Gran Vino.
María Vargas who joined the estate in 1995 as assistant winemaker, took the top position in 2000, and has been at Dalmau’s side throughout this historic transformation.
Completely changing the Albariño wines was a calculated risk, taking the wine off the market for three years to enable the wines to evolve and to put them through numerous ageing vessels including stainless steel, acacia, oak and concrete tanks.
Dalmau’s father built the winery in 1991 next to the traditional Galician manor house surrounded by 12 hectares of its own eight plots of Albariño. Dalmau was happy with the vines, that date back over 60 years, but it was the process and ageing that was to transform these two Albariño wines made here into Gran Vinos.
The Gran Vino Pazo Barrantes 2021 is sourced 100% from the estate with the average age of the vines being 40 years. Manual harvest in 20kg crates picked in September 2021, grapes are hand selected and sorted prior to de-stemming and gentle pressing. They are then fermented in stainless steel tanks, prior to sitting on lees for three months. They are then aged a further six months in stainless steel tanks with 15% aged in 225-litre acacia wooden barrels. Bottled in July 2022, then held in bottle before release.
La Comtesse 2019 is the estate’s ‘Grand Cru’, with each bottle numbered. If you have had either the La Comtesse or Pazo Barrantes in the past be ready for a big change, not only in price but quality… Dalmau is in the business of ‘searching for perfection’ and he has updated a classic brand with a new image. And, in his words, this is not a price increase but a ‘new price’ for a ‘new project’.
Some of the vines are up to 60 years old, again hand picked and sorted. The must is decanted by flotation to ensure greater aromatic purity and then fermented at 10°C in 3,000-litre French oak vats for 85 days. It then spends a further 12 months in French oak vats, of which three months is in contact with the lees and then 12 months in concrete tanks. Bottled in April 2022 and released in 2024.
Why concrete? For Dalmau and Vargas concrete is the holy grail for evolving and preparing their wines, both the Albariño and wines from Rioja.
“Concrete gives us minerality, length and depth,” Dalmau said. He also explained that decanting wine from oak to bottle can cause disturbance, whilst time in concrete gives it time to relax and get ready for its new home.
Marqués de Murrieta
This lunch was to celebrate the release of the Castillo Ygay 2012, and to highlight the quality of the Reserva and Gran Reserva; more generally it was also to celebrate again the estate’s 170 years of pursuing perfection.
The Ygay is only released in exceptional years the 2011 and 2012 were served with lunch (along with the older 1980); the next release will be the 2016 in 2026. What this means is that in the lean years for Ygay the wines are declassified to the Gran Reserva making these Gran Reservas exceptional wines for value and quality.
Food and wine matching is very close to the heart of Marqués de Murrieta and, at its various bodegas, they have six chefs who prepare exceptional wine matching lunches and dinners for private guests from across the globe. Dalmau states that it is not restaurant dining but “private dining at the estate,” where even multiple vintages of Ygay are poured to match meals. I love the food matching suggestions, including Roast Woodcock with the Ygay Blanco 1986.
The Marqués de Murrieta Reserva continues to be an excellent value wine for the quality, and to me it is their ‘under paid wine ambassador’.
Dalmau is focused, determined and leading the way forward to educate the world about Rioja, and he sees a natural way forward in doing this is to implement a ‘class system’, highlighting each bodega’s status, in much the same way that Bordeaux has been classified.
Dalmau believes that the current system where “Reserva” and“Gran Reserva” has no quality status is not worthwhile. He even goes so far as saying that having “Reserva” or “Gran Reserva” on a label is actually misleading, as it merely quantifies the age and not the quality of the wine and therefore is of little use to the consumer.
The Castillo Ygay 2012 launch and lunch
Castillo Ygay 2012 launch, Bibendum, London
And so to the wines and lunch which was held upstairs at London’s Bibendum restaurant with its striking glass murals, with 2 Michelin Star chef Claude Bosi present in the kitchen.
Gran Vino Pazo Barrantes 2021
100% Albariño. This has certainly evolved from when I used to drink it, clean fresh and focused, I love the vibrancy of this, chalk, crisp and layered, precise notes, this was exceptional as an aperitif but equally good with Bosi’s signature Bibendum Egg, an eggshell filled with a cep cream, topped with a coconut foam and a dusting of curry powder. A luxurious rich mouthful elegantly freshened by the Pazo Barrantes.
La Comtesse 2019
100% Albariño. My notes simply say “sensational”, this indeed was the ‘resurrection’, and what a transformation, my word this was sublime; textured, layered, buttery notes, butterscotch, saline and mineral, there are some unique spices, wild thyme, sea succulents and fresh acidity. This was matched to a white asparagus dish…. I will forgive Bosi the use of French white asparagus during our prime English green asparagus season, as this dish was pretty much perfect – the creamy white asparagus with seaweed notes was a perfect match to this aged Albariño, lifting it to even greater heights.
Capellania 2019
100% Viura. Classified as Gran Reserva since 2018, sourced from a single vineyard on the Ygay estate, first planted in 1945.
Textured with vanilla and waxy notes, zesty lime, hints of beeswax, quince, tangerine, well balanced with a resemblance to Chardonnay. Acacia notes with a smoky feel, flint and a bright bitter-spiced finish. This to me still needs time (will be released later in the summer) but you can tell the difference the time in concrete has had on the wine giving it a more focused, clean, balanced feel.
This was matched with Scottish Cod, Celeriac, English Clams and Cockles with a brown butter dashi. A remarkable rich but fresh dish, perfectly just-cooked cod from a large fish, refined celeriac with bright fresh shellfish.
Marqués de Murrieta Reserva 2019
87% Tempranillo, 6% Graciano, 5% Mazuelo, 2% Garnacha.
Cocoa and thyme, blueberries, violets, structured and balanced, there are dark strawberry notes, black pepper, it is succulent with a velvety but precise clean finish. Aged for 24 months in 225-lite American oak barrels, with three months in 15,000-litre concrete vats prior to bottling. One of the finest Reserva Rioja on the market, this is a wine that I have always aged a further decade to get the full monty.
Marqués de Murrieta Gran Reserva 2016
82% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano, 8% Mazuelo.
Aged for 26 months in 225-litre American oak barrels, with 6 months in new oak, prior to a few months in concrete vats.This is pretty seamless, a beautiful, clean, focused wine packed with elegance and style, much like Vicente Dalmau. Sweet spices, delicate dark fruit, there is a structured, chiseled, mineral feel, everything sits perfectly balanced on the palate.
Both the Reserva and Gran Reserva were served with a beautiful dish of Cornish monkfish, ‘Coq au Vin Sauce’ and smoked eel. A brilliant dish bringing, particularly, the Gran Reserva alive, lifting it and bringing out all the luscious flavours in the wine.
Castillo Ygay 2012
81% Tempranillo, 19% Mazuelo.
“Wow my God it is stunning” - those were the start of my notes which continue “it is stunning, the purity is immense, cool, elegant, complex, with layers and layers of superlative flavours, bilberries, chalk, this is seamless.” I then must have put my pen down to fully enjoy this stunning wine as I wrote nothing else.
The Tempranillo is aged for 34 months in 225-litre American oak barrels, and the Mazuelo for 34 months in French oak barrels. After blending, the wines are held in concrete tanks until bottling.
Castillo Ygay 2011
84% Tempranillo, 16% Mazuelo
Silky, bacon fat, fresh bilberries, clean and focused, a touch of cocoa, the meaty depth and freshness combining well to give a stunning precision and intensity. I love the harmony here where the concentrated dark fruits live balanced with the savoury notes; still youthful, but giving great pleasure already.
The two Ygay wines were served with a Kid Goat Pie and the most divine miniature baby Jersey Royals that I have ever had. The kid goat was rich but not over-powering, the pastry was superb.
Castillo Ygay 1980 from Magnum
Clean, fresh and focused with a copper note, the purity is superb with hedonistic perfume on the nose, roast lamb blood juices, blue and black fruit, cedar notes, refined fresh vanilla, spiced cocoa, just sublime a mouthfeel. Served with some great hard cheeses.
Castillo Ygay Blanco 1986
97%Viura, 3% Malvasia
252 months in 225-litre American oak barriques, 67 months in concrete tank.
Sadly this was no ‘long lunch’ for me and I had to leave at 4 p.m as I had to shoot off to cook a Charity Dinner that evening, but this is one of my favourite wines from the estate and I have lifted notes from when I tried a bottle from my cellar last month.
“textured and layered, sauce Anglaise, vanilla spice, white, peeled stone fruit, apricots, coconut Bounty bars, buttery but fresh, hints of violets, white cob nuts and cocoa beans, best drunk by itself without sharing if you can get away with it.”
