Castillo Ygay, Gran Reserva Especial, Rioja, Marqués de Murrieta 2012

The wines of 2023 show great promise but will be in short supply, while those of 2022 a hot, dry year are excellent and concentrated. The 2021 vintage is very good after a warm dry season with wines showing good concentration and aromatics. A wet first half of the 2020 vintage meant a lot of work in the vineyard was needed but a better, more consistent second half resulted in some juicy young wines with those ageing in barrel looking very promising. A very good year, 2019 had warm dry conditions but yields were limited by a tricky flowering period. A cooler and wetter year than other recent vintages has endowed the wines of 2018 with greater freshness and lower alcohols. Across the country the wines are showing good aromatics, plenty of weight, and a juicy fresh character. Growers had a complex year in 2017 having to contend with frost, hail and drought. Yields are down as a result, but the picture overall is of good quality particularly in Galicia and the South, Penedès also performed well. The 2016 vintage was pretty good on the whole with Ribera del Duero, Rioja and Rueda having excellent results. 2015 was heralded as the best vintage across Spain in recent years, and particularly so in the north. 2014 saw some good wines made with a little rain in the second half of harvest and low yields. This came after the potentially great 2013 vintage which has given fresh, vibrant, robust wines.