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Wine Description
The Story
The result of many years of experience, a renowned historic label. An icon of the Rioja Grandes Reservas of total quality and excellence. Exclusively produced with the best years of our best single vineyard, matured for two and a half years in American oak barrels and three years in bottle that give this wine a new depth, complexity and vivacity. Living legend of Rioja which has survived three centuries, destined to break records for its surprising vivacity of intense cherry colour which gives an amazing complexity. Its nose exhibits an aromatic intensity which seduces us with its red fruits, floral notes of truffles, incense and spicy touches. It caresses the palate with a satin texture. A Gran Reserva that shows strength, elegant bouquet, fruity intensity and impeccable balance.
Own single vineyard: Castillo Ygay is always made from grapes sourced from La Plana, a 40-hectare (98- acres) single-vineyard, planted in 1950 and located on a plateau at the highest point of our Finca Ygay, at 485 metres above sea level.
Alcohol content: 14%.
Grape varieties: 85% Tempranillo, 15% Mazuelo.
Manual harvest:Tempranillo was harvested on the 6th of October and Mazuelo on October the 21th.
Wine making: Bunches are de-stemmed and gently crushed, before being racked into stainless steel vats. Fermentation takes around eleven days, during which we pump over and punch down the cap in order to extract aromas and poliphenols slowly and naturally.
Ageging process: The wine is aged for 24 months in 225-litre American and French oak barrels.
Bottling date: March 2015.
Number of bottles: 130,853 (0.75 l)., 2,025 (1.5l), 204 (3l) y 7 (18l)
Pairing: Wood pigeon braised in red wine, cocoa, black pepper and Iberian ham fat; wagyu sirloin tartare, capers jam and soufflé potatoes; pil pil hake cheeks, codfish crispy skin and candied crystal pepper; Moliterno cheese with black truffles, sour cherry jam and Castillo Ygay red wine.
Serving suggestions: We recommend decanting the wine for 20 minutes and serve at around 14°-16° C to let the wine breathe and show its full aromatic potential.
Vintage 2012
SPAIN 2012 VINTAGE REPORT
The Control Board has given the 2012 Rioja vintage the official rating of ‘VERY GOOD’. The global rating reflects the heterogeneous nature of the vintage. The drought affected both grape volume and grape quality in some vineyards but also resulted in a significant quantity of wine of extremely high quality, in line with the wines of the two previous vintages, both rated ‘excellent’.
In general, Rioja’s vineyards showed good canopy growth and health throughout the growing season. Phenological development was normal in terms of dates compared to the average of the last few years. Although fertility rates were lower than those of the last two seasons, they were still within normal values for the grape varieties of the D.O.Ca. Rioja. The continuing drought that has affected the Region in the past two years curtailed the production of part of those vineyards located in drylands. In late August grape ripening was normal, with average values for hat time of the year.
After a growing cycle beset by drought, the late September rains had a significant impact, with a very positive effect on ripening, improving final berry balance and raising hopes about final production figures for a large part of Rioja vineyards. Most of the harvested grapes were in excellent health with a great balance between alcohol content and polyphenols, leading to wines of superb quality, with good polyphenolic structure , particularly suited for ageing in barrels and laying down for a long time.
Another reason behind the positive outcome of the 2012 vintage was the professionalism of growers and wineries in scheduling the harvest, given the uneven ripening found among different plots, which required selective harvesting to ensure the best quality was obtained from each vineyard. The total production volume of the 2012 harvest in Rioja came to 354.9 million kg of grapes —one of the lowest yields per hectare of the last two decades (5,710 kg/ha) and a significant drop compared to the 387 million kg harvested the previous year.