Marqués de Murrieta Ed. Limitada Gran Reserva 2012 (x3)

Produced with grapes from a dry and low-yielding year, the 2012 Gran Reserva Limited Edition is a blend of 80% Tempranillo, 9% Mazuelo, 8% Garnacha and 3% Graciano selected from a diversity of plots and soils. The destemmed grapes fermented in stainless steel, and the wine matured in American oak barrels for 29 months. 2012 was a warm year, and it shows in the wine. This also feels like a different era, especially when compared with the latest wines from 2012. It has a combination of a classical and more modern/clean profile. It has developed aromas and notes of bottle age. This is a selection of the most age-worthy vineyards from their estate, but it's not the same as Castillo Ygay. It's selected after one year in barrel for the potential the wine shows. 63,846 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2015.

Picked comparatively early after the sweltering summer of 2012, this is a nuanced, unashamedly traditional cuvée of Tempranillo with 9% Mazuelo, 8% Garnacha and 3% Graciano, all from the extensive Murrieta estate. Perfumed, refined and exquisitely oaked, with the structure for a long life. 2020-32

Let the dark nose with its licorice, soy sauce, smoke and earthy notes draw you into the deep, concentrated palate, where the serious tannins have just matured to the point where there is a graceful line right through the wine. Drink or hold.