TASTING Shangri-La The Shard, London; November 28, 2022.


2019 Pazo Barrantes Rías Baixas (100% Albarino)


The original familial estate of the forebears of the Counts of Creixell, Pazo Barrantes has been upgraded of late, both in terms of aesthetic and taste. The upshot is very impressive, the 15% of acacia aging (for seven months) subtly adding texture and depth without forsaking the forward, slightly salty citric charm of this most attractive of Atlantic varietals. | 91


2018 Marqués de Murrieta Reserva (86% Tempranillo, 8% Graciano, 4% Mazuelo, 2% Garnacha)


2018 marks the beginning of the “new era,” pace Vicente; well… newish, at least, given that none of the traditional quality has been abandoned. Fermentation is now in stainless steel, however, and oak aging reduced in time (21 months, where it may have been 30 or more) and intensity (none is new). A stormy, unpredictable vintage for all that. Deep in color, with fi nely balanced red fruit and spice; warm, generous, and roundly satisfying. | 91


2015 Marqués de Murrieta Gran Reserva (80% Tempranillo, 9% Graciano, 9% Mazuelo, 2% Garnacha)


Aged for 27 months in American oak (225-liter barrels, six months in new wood) and then in large (15,000-liter) concrete tanks. A warm vintage, 2015 was less turbulent than 2018, with diurnal gaps late in the season to underwrite the fi ne shard of acidity in this wine. Richly textured, with mocha, molasses, and chocolate behind the attractive black fruit, this is a highly successful Gran Reserva, a wine not to be overlooked as one reaches for the Ygay. | 93


2018 Capellanía (100% Viura)


Named for a 6ha (15-acre) plot planted at 1,600ft (485m) of altitude in 1945, Capellanía is the most changed member of the Murrieta family. The new face of Ygay Blanco. Fermentation is now in stainless steel, and the aging is in French oak from Allier; so, adieu to the spicy vanillin blockbusters of old. Welcome to a more restrained and subtle wine, not lacking in personality (a creamy texture and spicy backdrop are evidenced), but more measured, its fruit ripe and yet elegant, its fi nish refreshing and powerful. A superb match for the short rib raviolo and beurre noisette, as it turned out. | 91


2005 Marqués de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial (89% Tempranillo, 11% Mazuelo)


The calcareous soil of the 30ha (75-acre) La Plana plot distinguishes Ygay in both senses of the verb; planted on a plateau at an altitude of nearly 1,650ft (500m), this terroir has proved ideal in harnessing the quality latent in the 2005 vintage. QED here; Mazuelo acidity underscores


THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023 | 99


Tempranillo generosity. The ensemble boasts red and black fruit, a hint of game and bitter chocolate, then a robust fi nish that brims with self-belief. | 92


2010 Marqués de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial (85% Tempranillo, 15% Mazuelo)


A late vintage cycle, with cooler conditions prevailing. The time in oak has been reduced from 30 to 24 months, only partly in acknowledgment of the conditions. The new- era Ygay is tantalizingly similar to the old-era Ygay (thank goodness), albeit with a little less emphasis on the tenor and length of the élevage. The Mazuelo has also been creeping up over the years—a perfect antidote to broader excesses engendered by climate change. One has to change, so they say, to stay the same. But not too much, please. A glorious example, just starting to contemplate its truffl ey, whimsical ascent to seniority. | 94


2011 Marqués de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial (84% Tempranillo, 16% Mazuelo)


The current Ygay (the 2012 will be released in the spring of 2024, and there will be no 2013, 2014, or, interestingly, 2015). A dry hinterland, cool weather ceding to a fi ne autumn. The élevage is back up to 28 months here; the wine strident in (relative) youth; generous, red-fruit power, fi rm but unobtrusive tannins, a hint of balming balsam, and a generous fi nish. This seems more than a mere year younger than the 2010. Both are excellent. | 93


1980 Marqués de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial (Magnum) (72% Tempranillo, 13% Mazuelo, 11% Garnacha Tinta, 4% Graciano)


Two venerable old-style Ygays to go with a platter of Iberian cheese. Garnacha and Graciano, subsequently banished, are included in both. The 1980 was aged for 72 months in American oak; it is delicate, elegant, and balletic of temperament, the silky tannins cradling the still-impressive red- fruit character, the acidity coursing through its heady veins with a Burgundian fl ourish. | 95


1968 Marqués de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial (Magnum) (70% Tempranillo, 13% Mazuelo, 12% Garnacha Tinta, 5% Graciano)


A real treat this, a sine qua non of traditional Ygay, and therefore a benchmark for all of Rioja, its vintage a famous one. This magnum was bottled in 1983, and it had enjoyed 162 months in American oak, although one would struggle to guess this, given its lively color and fresh forest-fl oor aromas, evolution suggested only by the touch of volatility and the gentle, slightly sandy tannins. Game and fi g inform the mid- palate, an ethereal elegance billowing whimsically though the ensemble, which seems petrifi ed in a preternatural state of ageless grace. | 96


2019 Dalmau (86% Tempranillo, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Graciano)


A cathartic, “personal” wine, Dalmau was and is Vicente’s stamp on the identity of the estate, now, by his own admission, “refi ned” and less overly oaky. It turns out that Vicente is also called Dalmau, which underlines the personal nature of the project. Quite a sea change after the ancient magnum, the 2019 has been aged in new French oak for 20 months, its color near onyx, its aromatic oaky and assertive. On the palate, the dark fruit is pure and expressive (loganberry, myrtle, and blackberry; cassis, too, from the Cabernet), powerful and strident. An impressive antidote, surely, but one that needs time. | 91–92


1986 Castillo Ygay Blanco (97% Viura, 3% Malvasia)


An old-school white now, and perhaps the most appreciably diff erent from its recent manifestation (now known as Capellanía after its vineyard); there is Malvasia for a start (albeit only 3%), and crucially, there has been an élevage in American oak, a glorious 225 months of it. This beauty was fi nally bottled in 2014. Waxy, oily, unctuous, yet with fi rm beeswax acidity and adamantine defi nition on the fi nish; smoke, mushroom, quince, white chocolate… the list is endless. Only 13 vintages of the Ygay Blanco have been released (since 1852), which is not many for one of the great white wines of the world. | 97


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