by team member Ashley
On the 12th September, we held one of our specialist tastings in our Market Place shop for just 14 guests, centred around the wines of Marques de Murrieta in Rioja.
We were lucky enough to have Greg Askew, our supplier and brand ambassador for Murrieta wines, host the evening. The great thing about these special tasting evenings is being able to show some remarkable wines which are rarely opened. During this evening, we opened some of their most prestigious wines, plus we enjoyed a vertical tasting of the Reserva Tinto. (Vertical tasting being a line-up of 
several of the same wine but from different vintages). Here was what can only be described as “Phenomenal” line up:
- Murrieta Capellania Rioja Blanco 2019
- Murrieta Rioja Reserva Tinto 2018
- Murrieta Rioja Reserva Tinto 2017
- Murrieta Rioja Reserva Tinto 2016
- Murrieta Rioja Reserva Tinto 2015
- Murrieta Rioja Reserva Tinto 2014
- Murrieta Rioja Reserva Tinto 2013
- Murrieta Rioja Reserva Tinto 2012
- Murrieta Ygay Reserva Especial 2011
The Murrieta Capellania Rioja Blanco was a perfectly balanced wine with honeysuckle, stone fruits, creamy mouthfeel and a citrus zest… if you like white Burgundy you should be trying this.
It was a privilege to taste the Ygay Reserva Especial 2011, so powerful, rich and intense with still so much more life ahead of it for a wine already 14 years old!
From the vertical, the Murrieta Rioja Reserva Tinto 2015 was a show stealer: opulent black fruits, balsamic characteristics, olive tapenade, herby and a good amount of spice, all wrapped in silky/ well structured tannins.
The Tinto Reserva is available in a 170th Anniversary wooden case (includes the 2012,13,14,15,16,17), which we have managed to acquire a small allocation of.
