Castillo Ygay White 1986: 100 Parker points for a wine that is making history

 

It hasn’t even reached the market yet but it has already made history: Castillo Ygay Blanco Gran Reserva Especial 1986, a real gem made by Marqués de Murrieta, has been rated 100 Points by Robert Parker. This is the first time such an important accolade is given to a white wine is Spain.

After being tasted by Luis Gutierrez, the critic responsible for reviewing Spanish wines in Robert Parker’s ‘The Wine Advocate’, he states that it is “one of the best white wines I’ve ever tasted in my whole life.” Castillo Ygay Blanco Gran Reserva Especial 1986 stands as the only wine that has reached the highest score, an even more difficult achievement for a white wine.

This milestone not only marks a before and after in the history of Spanish wines, but also highlights the ongoing serious and honest commitment that has always characterized Marqués de Murrieta and the Cebrián-Sagarriga family. Celebrating its 165’s anniversary, the oldest winery in Rioja, led by Vicente Cebrian-Sagarriga, Count of Creixell, is more alive than ever.

With this vintage, the winery resumes its long tradition of making Castillo Ygay White and makes it the best possible way: presenting a wine that turns 30 years to the market. In order to rate the wine, the prestigious publication led by Robert Parker made a vertical tasting of Castillo Ygay white, from 1919 to 1986. Among the vintages tasted, the critic also gave top marks to two other historic vintages: Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial 1919 and 1932. the mark stands as the only in the world to achieve 100 points by Parker three times in one tasting, celebrating 100 years of high scores.

After spending 252 months in 225 liter American oak barrels and 67 months in concrete tanks, the wine is aged in bottles for more than three years to reach, 30 years after the harvest of the grape, the best expression of this wine from the first Rioja winery founded in 1852.

Castillo Ygay -red and white- represents the raison d’être of Marqués de Murrieta: timeless wines that remain in history and are located at the apex of global excellence forever.