The origin of Marqués de Murrieta winery is also the origin of Rioja. Don Luciano Murrieta, applying techniques learned in Bordeaux, made the first Rioja wine in 1852, with the intention of sustaining it over time.

Don Luciano´s vision was clear from the begin-ning: to create a fine Rioja wine with a great ageing potential and start exporting it outside of Spain. He shipped his first vintage, with the legendary 1852, to countries such as Mexico and Cuba, making it the first fine Rioja wine to be exported.

Marqués de Murrieta Estates and Wines is led since 1983 by the Cebrián-Sagarriga family, characterized by their professionalism and daily effort.

After 6 years of works, the major renovation project at Marqués de Murrieta was completed with the inauguration in 2021 of the new winemaking facilities, a complex of buildings with more than 25,000 square meters, built next to the Castillo de Ygay. This spacious building is equipped with the latest technology and is considered one of the most avant-garde wineries in the world. More than 50,000 square meters of gardens make it a charming and idyllic setting.

The winery is now fully modernised while remaining true to its roots and identity and ready to continue crafting the finest possible wines.

Marqués de Murrieta is a way of living that starts in the land with every single grape and we share with the world through our wines. We are a family and a professional team with the same goal: to keep our tradition alive, believe in ourselves and in the quality in the search for excellence. We work with our hands, our mind and our heart applying the technology always in balance with our history.

Marqués de Murrieta is continuously evolving with new and visionary ideas which enable us to adapt to the new times, new consumers and our dreams. Our vocation drives us to work always with passion and dignify our vineyard, every grape, every bottle, every glass of wine in any part of the world where we are present.

Own vineyards – A selection of the best grapes available from our 9-hectare (22 acres) single vineyard called Canajas, located at 465 m altitude and planted in 1950. Its soil is mainly iron-clay with a stony topsoil, which favours optimal ripening. After veraison, crop-thinning is carried out to limit production up to 1 kg per vine, selecting bunches with small, concentrated berries

Grape varieties: 86% Tempranillo, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Graciano

Ageing – 20 months in Allier French oak barrels and 6 months in concrete vats before bottling.

Winemaking – Once received at the winery, grapes are first de-stemmed and carefully selected. Then, each grape variety ferments separately for around 10 days in 13,900 – litre Allier French oak vats at controlled temperature. During this period, regular pumping over and delestage are carried out to ensure a perfect extraction of polyphenolic compounds.

Intensely scented nose with hints of blueberries, red plum, thyme, cedar and black pepper. Splendid palate, wide, well-defined with a long juicy finish. Seductive match of strength and finesse.
“The clearest expression of Canajas single-vineyard nature” María Vargas, Technical Director.

Pairing: Blue duck breast with boletus and fine black truffle mousse, blackberries and red wine sorbet.
Fluid 85 dark chocolate cake, crunchy pistachio and raspberry praline. Truffled cheese cream on a blueberry coulis.

Wine Enthusiast – 98 points

This wine has an enticing bouquet of blackberry, black cherry, violet and clove. Dark berry flavors transition to the palate and are joined by notes of dark chocolate, coffee bean, lavender, anisette and a touch of butterscotch. Polished tannins glide into a lengthy spice- and floral-laced finish.

James Suckling – 97 points

Deep and intense, yet mineral, with fresh blackberries, blueberries, black olives, pepper and lemon peel. Hints of graphite, cocoa powder, incense and cedar, too. Flavorful and juicy, medium-to full-bodied palate with a zesty quality to the fruit. Very long and eclectic, with a traditional twist to the modern sensibility. 86% tempranillo with 10% cabernet sauvignon and 4% graciano. Nothing hefty here. Better after 2025, when extra complexity will have emerged.

Tim Atkin – 97 points

Wine Advocate – 95 points

The 2019 Dalmau Reserva was produced with a blend of 86% Tempranillo, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Graciano from Pago Canajas within the property, nine hectares planted in 1945 on red stony soils where they seek low yields to achieve concentration. It’s a powerful red with 14.5% alcohol where all the varieties fermented destemmed separately in 13,900-liter oak vats with pumping over and délestage. It matured in French oak barrels for 20 months. There is a big change in this wine that increases its freshness and elegance, and they skipped the 2018 because they were not fully convinced and jumped to this 2019, the first one from the new era, produced in the new winery and fermented in oak vats. The big change is driven by the search for freshness and elegance and the effect of the new fermentation chamber and the fermentation oak vats. This could very well be the finest Dalmau ever produced, with the style of the new era of Marqués de Murrieta. It’s a wine with a new and stronger personality that goes beyond the varieties used, so that they feel very integrated and complementing each other. Refined, super elegant and fine tannins frame the palate of this exceptional wine. 15,526 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2021. They skipped the 2018 vintage of this, and the 2019 will be released in January 2023.

Marqués de Murrieta is one of the most classical names in Rioja, and they have managed to keep the classical style of the wines but are also completely relevant and up to date with what is happening in the world today. All of their wines come from their own vineyards, which sets them apart from the majority of classical wineries that didn’t use to have any vineyards. So, it’s a château style winery, a domaine, not a négoce and a small- to medium-size winery. All of the wines are numbered, and they produce a total of a little more than one million bottles. They keep faithful to the use of mostly American oak barrels for their wines, and the aim is for elegance and freshness. The first vintage in the new winery was 2018, but they only open the winery to the public now. So, the wines from 2018, 2019 and 2020 that I tasted are the first ones that fermented in the new winery. They have finished building their new winery, where they now have plenty of room to work as they have a lot of wines aging in the winery, both in barrel and in bottle. Fermentation will change, and they have introduced concrete for Capellanía and oak vats for the top-of-the-range in reds. In 2022, they celebrate their 175th anniversary. Many congratulations!