Marques de Murrieta Dalmau Tinto Reserva 2014
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Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesThe more modern of the portfolio, the 2014 Dalmau Reserva is a blend of 75% Tempranillo, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Graciano from the Pago Canajas in the Murrieta estate. The varieties fermented separately for around 11 days, the Tempranillo in stainless steel and the rest in small oak vats. The wine matured in French oak barrels for 21 months. I tasted the following two vintages, which felt quite different, especially the 2016. This 2014 is a slightly weaker vintage and feels a little more marked by the élevage with some cedary notes, smoky and spicy with the herbal twist from the Cabernet. It has a minty touch, some fine-grained tannins and a round and elegant palate. This is the only wine from Murrieta that ages in 100% new French oak. 15,040 bottles were filled in July 2018.
Named for the current owner of Murrieta, this wine comes from the Canajas parcel at Finca Ygay, where the vines include 75 percent tempranillo, 15 percent cabernet sauvignon and 10 percent graciano. It’s aged in French oak, and presented in a modern, youthfully fruit-rich style. The black-cherry fruit has a sanguine edge, dense and smoky with oak tannins, a full-on Rioja for steak.
Hailed as the star red variety in Spain’s most celebrated wine region, Tempranillo from Rioja, or simply labeled, “Rioja,” produces elegant wines with complex notes of red and black fruit, crushed rock, leather, toast and tobacco, whose best examples are fully capable of decades of improvement in the cellar.
Rioja wines are typically a blend of fruit from its three sub-regions: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental, although specific sub-region (zonas), village (municipios) and vineyard (viñedo singular) wines can now be labeled. Rioja Alta and Alavesa, at the highest elevations, are considered to be the source of the brightest, most elegant fruit, while grapes from the warmer and drier, Rioja Oriental, produce wines with deep color, great body and richness.
