1989 Castillo Ygay
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Tasting notes
The 1989 Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial was produced with 76% Tempranillo, 14% Garnacha (a year higher in Garnacha), 7% Mazuelo and 3% Graciano. It matured in tank for a few months and then in American oak barrels, a mixture of newer ones and well-seasoned, neutral ones, for 45 months. It has 13% alcohol, with 7.2 grams of acidity and 0.6 grams of volatile acidity. 1989 was a fairly dry year with only 285 liters of rain per square meter. This is austere with high acidity and plenty of tannin, a thinner wine with a metallic personality and detached acidity. The 1980s were probably the weakest wines, thin wines with lots of acidity.
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Robert Parker
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
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This traditionally run Bodegas estate bottles all of its wines. The 1989 Castillo y Gay Grand Reserva Especial, which represents 25% of the estate's production, and is produced only in top vintages, is the flagship wine of Marques de Murrieta. The deep ruby/purple-colored 1989 offers up smoky, sweet, jammy black cherry fruit aromas intertwined with scents of minerals, tobacco, and vanillin. Medium-bodied and ripe, with outstanding levels of fruit, glycerin, and extract, low acidity, and ripe tannin, this hedonistic, luscious Rioja can be drunk now and over the next 15+ years. Murrieta's Reservas and Reserva Specials are essentially all the same blends that spend differing amounts of time in wood. The Reservas tend to spend 2 1/2 years in 15-year old American oak barrels, and the Reserva Speciales 3 1/2 years in old American wood, followed by an additional 3 years of bottle age. Importer: William Grant & Sons, Edison, NJ; tel. (908) 225-9000