A precise and polished red with cherry, plum, slate, iron, and powdered earth. It's medium- to full-bodied with sublime tannins that are beautifully integrated into the wine. It's structured, yet the tannins are very silky. It's curated and thoughtful. Two years in American oak (10% new) and 14 months in bottle. Sophisticated and very drinkable, but will age nicely. Drink or hold.

The flagship red 2018 Rioja Reserva was produced with a blend of 86% Tempranillo, 8% Graciano, 4% Mazuelo (a.k.a. Cari?ena) and 2% Garnacha selected from their 300 hectares of vineyards that exemplifies the character of the vintage and the place. 2018 was a year with good rain and a cool season that resulted in a late harvest, which started on October 1 and was slow and delivered grapes with good freshness. Each variety and plot fermented separately in stainless steel. and the wines aged separately in American oak barrels for 21 months and then settled in concrete until bottling. It follows the path of the 2016, where I noticed a change that is taken further in this, controlling the power and increasing the freshness. It's very aromatic, a year completely different from the 2017; it has less structure and more freshness and subtler balance and enough oomph, concentration and power neatly compensated by freshness. I believe 2018 was a very good vintage to implement this change. It's perfumed, fresh, elegant and medium-bodied, with a velvety texture. Superb! 960,000 bottles produced.

The red 2017 Rioja Reserva is their flagship wine, of which they produce 900,000 bottles exclusively from grapes from their 300 hectares of estate vineyards. It's a blend of 83% Tempranillo, 9% Graciano, 6% Mazuelo (Cari?ena) and 2% Garnacha and has the character of the vintage, ripe and warm but without excess. The varieties fermented separately, even different plots fermented separately, and they also aged in barrel on their own. The blend is done at the end, after 20 months in American oak barrels. 2017 was a challenging year that they still consider a better vintage than 2018, as they see more concentration and power. The wine is quite lactic and creamy, still showing very young. It does feel undeveloped and in need of some time in bottle. The wine has concentration and clout, and I always consider it an ultimate example of an updated classical Reserva from Rioja. 2017 was the earliest harvest (started and finished in September), a warm and dry year when the Ygay estate miraculously escaped the terrible frost that decimated most of Europe. The challenge for this wine was to contain the ripeness and power, and they have done it. This will be released in spring 2021, so it should be a lot more integrated by then. This is always a sure value. Volumes are lower this year.

I also tasted an unbottled sample of the 2016 Rioja Reserva, which should be bottled in a couple of months, before the summer. What I tasted was the final blend, and it represents the year—2016 was a cooler year, and the wine also goes in that direction. 2016 saw a large crop, and the grapes for this cuvée were harvested at the end of September, going toward more finesse and subtleness, combined with the natural power. There was a change in the winery in 2016 that was finalized in 2018 with the new winery. The wine is textured and fine, and it's more elegant than the 2015 I tasted next to it. The detail and texture on the palate is different, and the quality of the tannins is completely different. This should be released in early 2020. There will be almost 1.1 million bottles of this, which is remarkable, as they have managed to increase quality and quantity.

The red blend 2015 Rioja Reserva is 80% Tempranillo with 12% Graciano, 6% Mazuelo and 2% Garnacha, a little more Graciano and Mazuelo, something logical in ripe and warm years like 2015. It's produced with grapes from a diversity of the 30 different plots within the estate, to represent the character of if. It fermented in stainless steel and matured in American oak barrels for 18 months. It's spicy and somewhat balsamic, with some dusty tannins. It's a ripe and powerful vintage that only suffers next to the 2016 I tasted next to it when there's a jump in precision and finesse. This is by far the largest volume produced at Murrieta, with almost one million bottles.