2016 Marqués de Murrieta "Finca Ygay" Reserva Rioja

This is very structured and powerful with a dense and rich palate of ripe fruit and hints of toasted oak. Full and layered. Structured. Released February 2020. Needs a few years of bottle age. (7/2019)

I also tasted an unbottled sample of the 2016 Rioja Reserva, which should be bottled in a couple of months, before the summer. What I tasted was the final blend, and it represents the year—2016 was a cooler year, and the wine also goes in that direction. 2016 saw a large crop, and the grapes for this cuvée were harvested at the end of September, going toward more finesse and subtleness, combined with the natural power. There was a change in the winery in 2016 that was finalized in 2018 with the new winery. The wine is textured and fine, and it's more elegant than the 2015 I tasted next to it. The detail and texture on the palate is different, and the quality of the tannins is completely different. (LG) (6/2019)

Brilliant violet. Red and black currant, cherry, fresh flowers and baking spices on the highly perfumed nose, along with hints of vanilla and pipe tobacco. Juicy and energetic on the palate, offering bitter cherry, cassis, spicecake and cola flavors that turn sweeter through the midpalate. Successfully blends power and delicacy and finishes very long, smoky and smooth, with fine-grained tannins adding gentle grip. (JR) (4/2021)

This is a blend of Tempranillo (87%), Graciano, Mazuelo and Garnacha grown at the Finca Ygay, Murrieta’s estate in the hills above Logroño. Aged in American oak for 18 months, it developed a hint of mintiness over its silken black-currant and tobacco flavors (think menthol cigarette smoked with aristocratic nonchalance in Monaco). Bright and somber, tense and refined, this wine’s limestone edges carry the essence of Rioja in a healthy wine that seems to get its style directly from the ground. (12/2020)

Black olive and forest floor notes frame tangy black cherry and currant flavors in this polished red. Well-integrated tannins and orange peel acidity support the supple texture. Balanced, in a savory style. (TM) (10/2020)

Though it's one of the oldest Rioja bodegas, dating back to the mid-19th century, Marqués de Murrieta has not rested on its laurels. They continue to produce excellent wines that are big hits with their customers and critics alike. They farm all their own grapes on their large, contiguous vineyard just outside of Logroño, which boasts old vines, a variety of soils from chalky clay to very stony parcels, and a climate that particularly favors not only Tempranillo but some of the region's finest Mazuelo.