This is a single vineyard wine from leading Rioja producer Marques de Murrieta. It’s a selection from the 60 year-old Canajas vineyard, which is part of the 300 hectare Ygay estate surrounding the winery in the south of Rioja Alta. Altitude us 465 m, and the varietal breakdown is 74% Tempranillo, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Graciano. The wine is aged for 20 months in new French oak. It’s an impressive, concentrated, sleek wine in a modern style. It’s not my sort of wine, but I admire it for what it is.

Marqués de Murrieta Dalmau 2009 Rioja, Spain
14.5% alcohol. Ripe, concentrated and refined, this shows sleek black cherry and blackberry fruit with a fine-grained tannic structure and a smooth, rich, chalky, subtly tarry undercurrent, with well integrated vanilla oak. This is plush, more-ish and harmonious in a very ripe style. It’s not jammy, though, with the structure and savoury elements matching the sweetness of the fruit. It’s drinking really well now, and although it will survive longer, I don’t think age will add much to this lush, generous wine. The tannins have melted nicely into the ripe fruit, and there’s a warm autumnal quality to the fruit. 94/100

See also: a tasting of the wines from Murrieta back to 1925

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