Rioja Gran Reserva Marques de Murrieta 2016

Description

Marqués de Murrieta was one of the first Rioja Houses to be established, in 1852, by Luciano Francisco Ramón de Murrieta one of the founding fathers of modern Rioja winemaking. Luciano, drawing on his experiences in France, felt that to make the best wines in the world the grapes needed to come from a single estate, which guaranteed complete control over the grapes, and established the Ygay Estate near Logroño in Rioja Alta. Luciano was a leader in using French techniques to develop greater complexity and longevity from Tempranillo, Rioja’s indigenous red grape.

A warmer vintage, which benefits the higher altitude vineyards at Marques de Murrieta. A short, early harvest, with small berries, producing wines with concentration and richness, backed with a line of acidity.

A barrel selection of the most age-worthy wines from the vintage make the 2016 Gran Reserva Limited Edition, this year a blend of 82% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 8% Mazuelo selected from their 300 hectares of vineyards. The grapes were picked between October 10th and 18th. The destemmed and lightly crushed grapes were fermented by plot and variety in stainless steel, and the varieties were aged separately in American barrels for 26 months. It has 14% alcohol, a pH of 3.56 and 5.4 grams of acidity. Tasting this in the context of the current vintages, it's clear that we're talking about a different era—more traditional, meatier, not as precise as other wines from more recent years, quite balsamic but with a solid palate, texture and balance, halfway between tradition and modernity. 67,045 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2019. 94+pts Wine Advocate