2001 Marques de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Reserva Especial**

2001 was the height of ripeness, extraction and oak use in Rioja, and even classic wines like the 2001 Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial showed higher alcohol, at 14%, than any of the other 20 vintages I tasted in this vertical tasting. The wine is a majority of Tempranillo with 7% Mazuelo, as there's no more Garnacha or Graciano from here onwards. The wine matured in American oak barrels for 31 months. This is the first wine from the new era; when they selected the specific plot to produce the wine from here onwards, they decided to age the Tempranillo in American oak, as was the tradition, and the Mazuelo in French oak. I found more integrated oak than I expected in the wine, and there's balance, in a different style than before, with higher alcohol and ripeness, with more color, extraction and oak but without excess. This is a lot more modern, even if their model was the 1959 vintage.

(a library release; it was previously reviewed in July 2009) Deep red. A complex, intensely perfumed bouquet evokes candied red fruits, pipe tobacco and potpourri, while peppery spice and smoke flourishes build as the wine opens up. Sweet, seamless and expansive on the palate, offering cherry liqueur, rose pastille and spicecake flavors and a touch of peppery spices that adds urgency and lift. Closes very long, sweet and precise, with gentle tannins making a late appearance.

Medium red. Impressively complex bouquet of dried red fruits, tobacco, cedar and potpourri. A spicy, subtly sweet midweight, offering lively redcurrant and bitter cherry flavors and very soft tannins. The smoky finish features a strong echo of cedary spice. Incidentally, the 2004 Dalmau seems to be slowly eating up its strong oak component, as a bottle that I recently tasted is showing more vibrant red fruit than last year.