Marques De Murrieta Tinto Reserva 2021

Marqués de Murrieta Tinto Reserva, Rioja Alta, Spain, 2021    

Grapes: A blend of 86% Tempranillo, 8% Graciano, 4% Mazuelo and 2% Garnacha, calcareous clay soils, manual harvest, aged 26 months in 225 litre American oak barrels

Producer Tasting Note: 

This new 2021 vintage of Marqués de Murrieta Reserva presents itself with immediate and refined elegance. On the nose, notes of ripe fruit (redcurrant and blackberry) and spearmint/liquorice stand out, harmonised with delicate hints of chocolate liqueur over a backdrop of cedar and spice.. On the palate, it displays a balanced, meaty and rounded profile, with a pleasant acidity that blends naturally with firm tannins, giving way to a long and persistent aftertaste of wild berries and creamy raspberry.

Marqués de Murrieta Reserva is a traditional Rioja wine crafted in the classic Murrieta signature style and enjoying all the benefits of modern winemaking philosophy, equipment and techniques. Made from Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano, this wine embodies ripe fruit qualities with a perfect balance of acidity, supple roundness on the palate and a hint of new oak. 

Critic's Tasting Notes:

"A red blend composed of Tempranillo (86%), Graciano (8%), Mazuelo (4%), and Garnacha (2%), aged for 26 months in 225-liter American oak barrels. A quintessential Rioja, featuring ripe red and black fruits followed by floral, herbal, and sweet spice notes that appear on both the nose and the palate. It is full-bodied yet fluid and refined, offering refreshing acidity, firm and fine-grained tannins, and a juicy, persistent finish with hints of earth, balsamic, tobacco, graphite, plum, and cherry. Alcohol: 14%."

94/100 points, REVISTA ADEGA (Brazil), April 2026

"Their flagship wine comes from one of the finest vintages in recent times. The 2021 Marqués de Murrieta was previously called the Reserva and still qualifies as such, but it's not included in the name now. It was produced with 86% Tempranillo, 8% Graciano, 4% Mazuelo and 2% Garnacha Tinta from their 300 hectares of vines in their Ygay estate on limestone and clay soils with alluvial influence. The grapes were picked between the 27th of September and the 15th of October, and each plot and variety was vinified separately in stainless steel, matured in American oak barrels for 26 months, then blended and kept in concrete for a few months until bottling, which was a longer élevage this year. It's very spicy, peppery, with a combination of berry fruit and some incipient tertiary aromas, hints of forest floor and truffle. It's very Rioja, with clout, elegance and freshness and the elegant tannins that are the signature of 2021. It comes in at 14.3% alcohol with a pH of 3.6, denoting ripeness and balance. It's delicious, fresh and available. Bravo! This will be released in May 2025. 900,000 bottles produced. It was bottled from May to July 2024."

95/100 points, Luis Gutiérrez, WINE ADVOCATE, February 2025

Also awarded 95/100 points by Tim Atkin MW, March 2025, and 96/100 points Decanter Magazine, February 2025

We recommend decanting the wine for 20 minutes and serve it at around 16° - 18°C (61° - 65°F) to let the wine breathe and show its full aromatic potential. 

Food Match: Pair with red tuna grilled with Viura shoots, bittersweet piquillo pepper and soya with roasted onion; Galician blond beef tail in cannelloni, baked potato and red wine; Vine shoots grilled turbot in olive, rosemary and spices.