Before COVID-19, I had the honor of dining with José Luís Muguiro Jr., the brand ambassador for the Marques de Riscal winery, which is a traditional Spanish winery that started producing wine in the mid 1800s. Even though the winery is steeped in tradition, they are very progressive in balancing innovation with their storied past.
Marques de Riscal produces red and white wines. They have many old vines that produces wines with tremendous depth and complexity. For their white wines, I tried their 2015 Sauvignon Blanc and 2019 Blanco, which is a wine made from the distinctive Verdejo grape variety. The Sauvignon Blanc does not have the seering acidity of New Word Sauvignon Blancs but more tropical fruit flavours and aromas. Verdejo is a distinctive grape variety and I love this wine’s slight bitter melon aftertaste. The Blanco paired really well with a scallop crudo and peppercorns.
For the reds, I tasted the 2015 Reserva XR, 2015 Baron de Chirel Reserva, and 2013 Gran Reserva, which are all made primarily with the Tempranillo grape. Spanish Reserva wines must be aged for at least two years (at least one year in Oak barrels) while Gran Reserva wines must be aged a minimum of 3 years before release (at least two years in Oak). The name of the Reserva XR commemorates an old Spanish tradition where the winery’s cellar master would mark the best barrels of wine with “XR”. The Reserve XR is made from 70 year old vines and 2015 is the first vintage. It marks a fresher, more approachable style of Tempranillo which is still distinctively Spanish. The wine was light and easy to drink but still had lots of dark fruit and toasty oak flavours and aromas.
The favourite amongst my friends was the 2015 Baron de Chirel Reserva. It was tannic at first, but started to open up after 90 minutes in a decanter and 30 minutes in the glass. It is smooth, almost chocolatey on the palate with pepper, tobacco, plum and blueberry notes. This wine contains less than 10 per cent of Cabernet Sauvignon, which gives it a bit of an edge, additional strength and structure.
At the end of the night, we were given a real treat: the 2012 Frank Gehry Selection. This is a reserva wine made with 100-per-cent Tempranillo grapes taken from Marques de Riscal’s best plots. Very limited quantities of this wine are produced, and it retails for about $850 a bottle, so we were lucky to taste it. It is named after the architect Frank Gehry, who designed the winery’s hotel (which itself is a work of art). Jose guaranteed me that the hotel is even more spectacular in person. The wine was very fragrant and aromatic on the nose. It was almost Burgundian in style, but when you taste it, it is an explosion of violets and dark purple fruit, inky with a licorice aftertaste. It is full bodied with surprising depth and complexity given its elegant aroma. This is what Jose said the winery wanted consumers to taste: elegance and complexity that was distinctively Spanish. The pairing wasn’t too bad either: churros with chocolate sauce.
Some of these wines may make it into our local market. The only Marques de Riscal wine readily available now in liquor stores is their 2014 Reserva which is priced at $30.99. It is a great Spanish wine that is very representative of the Tempranillo grape. Marques de Riscal invented the gold netting around the bottle as an early way to prevent their wines from being forged. Until next time, happy drinking!
