Bodegas Marques de Murrieta

100 point wine from Spain is a White! 1986 Marqués de Murrieta - For the first time ever a white wine from Spain has been rated 100 points by serious US wine press. 

Robert Parker wine reviewer Luis Gutiérrez scored the 1986 Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial Blanco 100 points in an August issue of the Wine Advocate.  Gutiérrez had tasted the wine before, which was partly bottled and released in 1992. Since then he points out that the remaining wine was kept in oak barrels for 21 years!  Then kept in a concrete tank for 6 years.  How incredible to be lively, fresh, focused, and not oxidized after so much time.  What an accomplishment for the Spanish wine industry as a whole, and of course for Marqués de Murrieta.  It is also a great reminder of Spain’s great white wines that are ascending in quality.  At such a high price per bottle, it is too bad few if any of us will ever get to taste it.

This wine comes from the Finca Ygay, an estate of Marqués de Murrieta in Rioja Alta.  At Finca Ygay, the grapes are from the Capellanía vineyard, which according to their site was planted in 1945 and which is located at the highest point of their estate.  It is 97% Viura and 3% Malvasía.

Marqués de Murrieta’s President receives Gentleman’s ‘Best Entrepreneur of the Year’ Award

Marqués de Murrieta gains more accolades this year! After receiving the Best Entrepreneur of the Year Award from both Actualidad Económica and Condé Nast, Vicente Dalmau Cebrián-Sagarriga, Count of Creixell, has received his third award, this time from the prestigious publication Gentleman. This award further highlights the success of Marqués de Murrieta and Pazo de Barrantes wineries, and it’s president’s expertise and know-how.

This know-how that has been made possible, as he points out, by the “daily, honest and responsible work” of his team and it is thanks to this he has been able to fulfil his 19 yearlong dream;

“I dreamed that this renovated winery would become one of the foremost wineries in the world and a few months ago we were named the Best Winery in the World. I dreamed that our wines would reach the highest positions in tastings around the world and less than two months ago, the most important American publication certified that our wines had achieved the highest scores, ranking among the 20 best wines in the world. I also dreamed of a strong presence for our wines outside of Spain and today we are in 100 countries around the world and our export has reached 70%”.

Dreams do come true and it is the recognition of awards bestowed by Gentleman, Actualidad Económica and Condé Nast that continue to drive the daily work of the Best Entrepreneur of the Year and the Best Winery of the World.

Marqués de Murrieta supports Spanish and international sport

Chosen as the official wine of the Mutua Madrid Open 2015 for the fifth consecutive year, Marqués de Murrieta has exceeded all expectations, recording a real success in this new edition, in which sport, entertainment and gastronomy have all three turned into protagonists in equal measure.

The consumption of our wines has reached during the ten-day tournament the figure of 14.000 bottles, that all guests in the VIP tent of the prestigious sporting event were able to enjoy. Thus, about 3.000 attendees per day enjoyed Marqués de Murrieta’s wines, accompanied by the best catering.

And they not only enjoyed our wines: many personalities gathered at Marqués de Murrieta’s stand, where virtual photos became an attraction for all attendees. In it, we could also see our guests to the box, such as Nieves Alvarez, Maria Leon and Laura Sanchez, as well as Eugenia Martinez de Irujo and her brother Fernando, or Nuria González and Goya Toledo, among many others.

In addition to its tennis support, Marqués de Murrieta has also been present in the VIP tent in Montmelo’s circuit, which has hosted by the GP of Cataluña.

His Majesty the King Juan Carlos inaugurates the Ygay Castle, emblematic building of the Marqués de Murrieta winery

After more than eight years of restoring works, the historic Ygay Castle, birthplace of the first project of Rioja wines, reopens its doors as the most important vitiviniculture project in Spain and one of the most important in the world.

His Majesty the King Juan Carlos, in one of his few public appearances, inaugurates the Ygay Castle after its restoring project as centrepiece of the wine industry in Rioja and as the main building of the Marqués de Murrieta Winery

Marquis of Murrieta's foundation is linked to the origins of the Rioja wines since Luciano Murrieta produced in 1852 the first Rioja wine and was also the first one to export his wines. Luciano, appointed Marquis by the King Amadeo of Savoy thanks to his work in Rioja, travelled to Bordeaux to learn the winemaking techniques that he introduced later in Spain. He established the concept of “château” in the Ygay Estate where he built the emblematic Ygay Castle.

In 1983 Vicente Cebrián Sagarriga, tenth Count of Creixell, took over the project. He modernized the winery and with his entrepreneurial vocation he continued the legacy of Marqués de Murrieta. After his death his eldest son, Vicente D. Cebrián-Sagarriga, current Count of Creixell, assumed together with his sister Cristina the management of the winery, accompanied by a young and qualified team. Over the years, the Count of Creixell´s family has become the perfect continuity to maintain the balance between tradition and modernity positioning Marqués de Murrieta in the 21st century in a privileged position in the world.

Pazo de Barrantes Winery is associated to the Counts of Creixell since the beginning of the 20th century although the property is in the hands of the family since 1511. Over the years, the Count of Creixell´s family has given its own personality to every wine produced in the winery.

In the 1990´s the Galician property turns into an estate designed specifically for the albariño growing, the great and noble local grape variety.

This enabled the family to join all the efforts to offer a careful and precise winemaking of the albariño in the heart of the Salnés Valley.

The construction of the Galician winery at the beginning of the 1990´s established a balanced relationship between Pazo Barrantes and the historic Riojan winery founded by the Marquis of Murrieta.

Marqués de Murrieta is an older than 160 years-old winery where the deep respect for the history and the tradition finds a perfect balance with the focus on the future. Its origin dates from 1852 when Luciano Murrieta y García –Lemoine produces the first fine wine from Rioja and is the first one to export it. He acquires the Ygay Estate and builds his emblematic Ygay Castle. In 1983 Vicente Cebrián Sagarriga, tenth Count of Creixell, takes over the project and after his death in 1996, his children, who are currently responsible of such an ambitious and endearing family business that they strengthen day after day with its presence in the different continents.

The uniqueness and quality of the Marqués de Murrieta wines is determined, to a great extent, by the singular caracter of the Ygay Estate, 300 hectares of own vineyards located around the winery, which allow the absolute control of the raw material. Located in the south of Rioja Alta, it enjoys a privileged continental climate tempered in the north by the Sierra de Cantabria Mountains. The grape varieties cultivated are five reds (tempranillo, garnacha, mazuelo, graciano and cabernet sauvignon) and the white viura.

Vinification: Grapes are first de-stemmed and then fermented in temperature controlled, stainless steel tanks for 8 days, with constant skin contact. During fermentation wine is both pumped over the cap of grape skins at the top of the tank (remontage), and also the cap is pressed into the fermenting wine (pigeage). Both these processes ensure a perfect colour and aroma extraction, without producing excessive tannin. Afterwards the solid parts of the grapes are pressed in vertical presses with double screws. This is a smooth and slow treatment that favours the extraction of the colour and tannins that reside in the skin of the grapes.

Ageging process: 17 months in 225 liter American oak barrels and a minimum of 12 months in bottle before release.