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Vicente is dapper, with a confident Castilian swagger and a healthy self- belief. Titian’s Holy Roman Emperor— minus, on this occasion, the horse. He speaks of “revolution in Rioja” and a seminal year for Marqués de Murrieta; of the personal cathartic project that is Dalmau; and of the “demise” of Garnacha—grandiose statements all, and all needing a degree of unpicking. The seminal year in question is 2018, the vintage of the latest release of the Murrieta Reserva. The significance can be found in the fact that it was the start of the complete renovation of the winery—now 270,000 sq ft (25,000 sq m) of splendor, oak, and steel winking at each other behind the thick stone of the Castillo de Ygay—and in a concomitant paradigm shift in winemaking, which centers on a modification (and generally reduction) in the oak aging, most especially in Dalmau and in the white, Capellanía. The changes are subtle yet significant: Long gone are the days when the top wines were aged for ten years in American oak; purity and structural definition are now key. The mood music is respectful of tradition, and adagio of temperament, since the wines are released at different times.
100 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023
There is, nonetheless, a nostalgic temptation to mourn the passing of a distinctive imprimatur—all the more so when one tastes the three wines that are served at the end of this fabulous meal: Castillo Ygay 1980 and 1968 in magnum and Castillo Ygay Blanco 1986. Oh well… the changes are nuanced and gradual, mutatis mutandis, and the underlying quality remains unchallenged.
Burgundy the closest cousin What of Rioja as a whole? Here the debate, as ever, focuses on the pros and cons of its strong brand identity and the issue of classification. Vicente does not wish for Ygay to enter the Viñedo Singular category (Ygay would surely be the template and potential ambassador thereof), but at the same time, he is scornful of a designation, however long-standing, based on time rather than quality. “We may remove the words ‘Gran Reserva’ to the back label,” he says of Ygay. “It is of marginal significance to us.” Hardly an endorsement of either categorization. The alternative is cited as a pyramid of qualitative definition, with premiers and grands crus in the manner of Burgundy. “We are, after all, very Burgundian in style here… There
is more limestone in the soils at Logroño than in Haro. They used to say that Ygay was closer to Bordeaux in style, but I think that Burgundy is in fact our closest cousin.” It’s hard to disagree with such a statement, especially when tasting the older trio. Whither Murrieta? If the macro- environment is uncertain (politically, above all, with the Basque Alavesa enclave threatening to withdraw from the denominación altogether), things are clearer, at least, for the familial domaine. “We do not make crianza,” says Vicente, “and we do not buy in fruit, so we are relatively small in size.” Production, at around 1.4 million bottles, is dwarfed by competitors at the top end: Riscal makes some 20 million bottles, CVNE 25 million, and even La Rioja Alta more than six million. Growth does not interest Vicente: “I am a part of Rioja, and I am responsible for Rioja”—quite a claim, but few are as qualified to make it with such confidence. Especially when speaking from Shangri-La.
Above: One of the barrel cellars at Marqués de Murrieta, completely renovated from 2018, the distinctive Castillo Ygay logo on the barrel ends.
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