Marques de Murrieta "Capellanía" Reserva Blanco 2018
(Rioja, Spain) - [JS 96] [WA 94] [WS 93]

About the Winery: 
The story of the Marqués de Murrieta winery is inextricably intertwined with the history of Rioja wine. The winery's founder, the Marqués de Murrieta, imported production techniques into Spain from Bordeaux. In 1852 he produced his first wine in Logroño, moving into the Ygay Estate in the late 1870s. Located at the heart of La Rioja, the estate is home to Ygay Castle, headquarters of the Marqués de Murrieta wineries. The castle is surrounded by 300 hectares of vineyards. 

About the wine:

The viura, the white variety with which it is made, comes from Pago Capellanía, with only 6 hectares and located in the highest area of ​​Finca Ygay. Thanks to the altitude, the high quality of its calcareous soils and the low yields of the vines over 70 years old, the variety reaches its maximum potential.

Manual harvest, selection table, fermentation at low temperatures... each step that is taken in the production of Capellanía is aimed at achieving the greatest expression of the variety. Its balanced passage through new French oak barrels for more than 12 months gives it precision and makes Capellanía an incredibly gastronomic wine. 

Winemaking:
Grapes are de-stemmed and after passing through the sorting table, they are carefully crushed. After a short skin contact they are gently pressed in a vertical press to favor the extraction of all the aromatic potential. The juice was then settled and fermented for 35 days in a 9,400-litre concrete vat at 10°C.

“The use of concrete in the fermentation process has taken Capellanía to a new dimension; longer, more complex and polished”, María Vargas, technical Director.

Food Pairing:
Caramelised eel with buttercream, acid apple and foie layers. Steamed and roasted red bream, its collagen, red shrimp royal and roasted leek. Grilled-roasted scallop with egg flower, smoked potato and white truffle. Triple cooked Poularde de Bresse roll with chestnuts and Kumquat tangerine.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Grape variety: 100% Viura.

Alcohol content: 14% vol.

Bottling date: July 6, 2022.

Serving recommendations: We recommend serving at 13⁰C (55˚F)

Ratings & Reviews

96 Points - James Suckling:
"Mineral, macadamia, pine nuts, white sesame and white fruit with a touch of spice. A bright and linear Capellania that shows excellent tension, freshness and complexity. Long and appetizing finish. More taut and gastronomic now. 100% viura. Drink now or hold." (November 2023)

94 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate:
"To catch up with the current vintages that I shall review every 12 months from now on, I tasted two vintages of some of the wines, including the whites. The 2018 Capellanía is 100% Viura from the plot that names the wine. The vineyard is six hectares planted in 1945 at 485 meters altitude, the highest in the estate. It fermented in concrete, the first vintage to do so, as it was fermented in stainless steel until then, and matured in second-use French oak barrels for 22 months. It spent a further seven months in concrete, a long élevage, with the idea to produce a structured white with aging potential, while keeping the varietal character. The wine is subtle and elegant, following the path of all the wines in the portfolio here, still marked by the élevage in oak, spicy and smoky. The palate is balanced, with a nice combination of fruit and oak, with a soft texture, clean, focused and tasty. It has 14% alcohol, a low pH of 3.1 and 6.10 grams of acidity. 21,836 bottled and 688 magnums produced. It was bottled in July 2022. This is now released with the Gran Reserva back label." Drink 2024-2033. - Luis Gutiérrez (February 2024)