Marques de Murrieta Capellania Blanco Reserva 2017 (RP94)

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 94
The 2017 Capellanía comes from the earliest harvest in recent times. It's pure Viura from the vineyard that names the wine and was aged in French oak barrels, which comes from the tradition of whites with a long aging in wood that were one of the hallmarks of Murrieta, structured and with good aging potential. These are some of the oldest vines, planted in 1945 at the highest elevation, 485 meters above sea level. The grapes were picked September 13th and 14th, when the bunches were pressed in a vertical press and the must fermented slowly in stainless steel at 10 degrees Celsius without going through malolactic fermentation. The wine matured in French barriques for 24 months, but since 2016, the wines are sharper and they also started introducing a small percentage of American oak barrels. It's 14% alcohol with a pH of 3.23 and 6.58 grams of acidity (tartaric), and it has more integrated oak and is sharper and fresher. It's medium-bodied, with less volume and more length, beautifully textured and tasty. It follows the general path in the winery toward more freshness and elegance. It's even more remarkable given how adverse the natural conditions from 2017 were... 22,920 bottles were filled in March 2021, a much shorter production than the 2016. The wine will change more in 2018 when they started fermenting the wine in concrete.

Decanter 97
The one wine that has potential to become even subtler and more complex than Murrieta’s Ygay is its Capellanía. Showing how the well-kept traditions of Rioja can be informed by today’s knowledge, it is a most refined wine, made after very long ageing in French barriques. An inimitable mix of a unique vineyard and exceptional wisdom.