Two Brilliant (White) Riojas, Including a 100-Pointer!

To all Wine Exchangers,

Marques de Murrieta is one of Rioja’s oldest estates. Actually, it could be the region’s oldest property. According to the Murrieta folks, the property’s founder, Luciano Murrieta y García-Lemoine, produced the first fine wine from Rioja and was the first one to export it, way back in 1852.

Most of the oldest properties in Rioja were created when the French rolled in in the 1870’s-1890’s, so Murrieta has those guys beat by a good couple of decades.

Today, the Cebrián-Sagarriga Suárez Llanos family owns over 700 acres of their own property, including the famous Ygay Estate directly surrounding the Castillo (chateau) and winery. From their estate property, they produce a number of classically balanced, elegant, age worthy, ‘traditional’ Rioja wines, including today’s somewhat unique offerings.

Who would have thought that Rioja could be white wine country? Storage, but true. But not for every property. Most of the white wine in Rioja is innocuous and there are very few wineries doing what this one is doing.

The main white wine grape in Rioja is Viura. When made in a crisp, clean unoaked style it can produce a wine that is easy, fresh, simple, clean and ideal for washing down some jamon on a hot Rioja afternoon. Today's wines, however, are a wonderfully different matter...entirely. This is serious Viura.

Marques de Murrieta, along with a few other of their fellow Riojanos (Lopez de Heredia to name one) has long had a ‘thing’ for white wines, but it seems as if every producer that specializes in them marches to their own special beat. Among the top Rioja whites, no two versions are the same, even in Murrieta’s own stable.

The Marques de Murrieta Rioja Blanco Reserva Capellania 2011 is the winery’s current release of this icon wine.  Its production is tiny by Rioja standards, with all the Viura sourced from one single vineyard on the property planted in 1945.  The wine is kept for a year and a half in new French oak barrels followed by extended bottle aging, giving an astonishing complexity, structure and elegance.

The winery calls it a “…singular white wine, with the soul of a red wine which surprises all who taste it.”

Yeah, I get that. In fact, the wine comes across more like a top version of a dry wine from Sauternes, such as junior version of Chateau d’Yquem’s ‘Y’ (Ygrec) bottling.  It’s pretty trippy stuff that, once you start drinking it, it’s hard to stop.

Wine Advocate’s Luis Gutierrez referred to it as, “…exuberant and perfumed, with aromas of lemon sherbet, magnolia flowers and subtle, elegant spicy oak. There is a sense of harmony that is breathtaking.”

While James Suckling gave it a huge 94-point score and remarked, “Extremely aromatic with lilacs, lemon rind and limes. Full-bodied, yet linear and very tight. Candied apples and bright acidity...A white of contrast and distinctive character.”

At $24.98 it has to be one of the finest white wine values in the world.

Now, the next wine we’re offering is certainly no value, but it doesn’t need to be, seen as it is one of the single greatest white wines on the planet.

The Marques de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Rioja Blanco Gran Reserva Especial 1986 had been one of those wines only mentioned in whispers, stories spun by people who had the luck of enjoying it in the past.

When the winery felt it was time to re-release a small parcel of this wine, the shockwaves could be felt throughout the Spanish wine world. It is the Spanish equivalent of the ’86 DRC Montrachet and ’02 Coche Dury Corton Charlemagne rolled into one. It’s their ne plus ultra, and we have it.

How grand is this wine? It’s one of the only (the only?) white wines ever produced to have scored a perfect 100 points from two different pundits.

James Suckling called it, “…a triumph. An amazing white showing roasted pineapple, dried apple, flowers and hints of lemon curd on the nose. Hints of almonds, too. Full-body, closed and tight with amazing depth and beauty. Waxy, salty, and creamy. Goes on for minutes. 21 years in wood, seven in concrete and then about three years in bottle. First year since 1978. Viura with a hint of malvasia. I have the same mind-tingling sensation tasting this as tasting the 1963 Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva Blanco. Another perfect wine. 100 points.”

But Luis Gutierrez was a little more prolific in his assessment of the wine, writing, “ I have been terribly excited about this wine since I first learned that (part of) it was still in cement waiting to be bottled in September 2013. I consider the rare white Castillo Ygay one of the greatest white wines ever produced in Spain, and the 1986 Castillo Ygay Blanco Gran Reserva Especial is a great addition to the portfolio of the winery--an historic wine that is coming back to life…This 1986 had seen the light as a limited early release bottled in 1992 and sold around 1995, and some bottles might still be found in the market. But most of it remained unbottled and was kept at the winery, where it stayed in oak for 21 years, followed by some six years in cement vats until it was bottled. It has 13.5% alcohol, an extremely low pH of 2.98 and 6.75 grams of acidity (tartaric). It has a very subtle nose and it's a bit shy, a little closed at first. It was only bottled one and a half years ago, and it's not crazy to say that the wine is showing extremely young. The wine shows more open the day after, when it has developed some nuances of mushrooms and verbena tea…The palate is both powerful and elegant, with superb acidity and great length, with volume and sharpness, with a mineral, umami-driven finish. It fills your mouth, tickles your taste buds and makes you salivate. There is nothing negative about the wine; there is no excess oak, nothing blurry, nothing to improve... perhaps the bottle used! I think this is a perfect wine. It seems to be getting younger and younger with time in the glass; it seems to be getting more focused and sharper, and I have no doubt the wine will evolve and last for a very, very, very long time in bottle. I kept the opened bottle for almost one week and the wine didn't move one inch--no oxidation or any signs of fatigue. Having tasted many other vintages, including the also perfect 1919 (which is still going strong at age 97), I have no doubt we're talking about a white for the next 50 years. Looking at the older vintages, I might even be underestimating its life span. 100 points.”

Whew! Again, not cheap, but what price do you pay for perfection...twice?

Kyle Meyer and Tristen Beamon, Proprietors, Wine Exchange