Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Reserva 2015 - 75cl

Some Rioja chases modern power. Marques de Murrieta keeps faith with the classical style, and does it about as well as anyone. Founded in 1852, the house farms the vast single Finca Ygay estate on the southern edge of Rioja Alta, and this Reserva is its calling card.

It is Tempranillo-led, around 80%, with Graciano, Mazuelo and a little Garnacha filling in, and it spends the best part of two years in oak, largely American with some French, before release. That American oak is central to the house style, and it is what gives traditional Rioja its familiar sweet-spiced warmth. 2015 was a warm, generous vintage, and you can taste that ease in the glass. This is Rioja Reserva doing what it does best: mature, savoury and gently sweet-fruited all at once. Dried red cherry and plum meet the tell-tale American-oak signatures of vanilla, a little dill and sweet baking spice, then leather, tobacco and a warm earthiness as it opens.

The texture is polished, the tannins resolved, the finish long and comforting. Nothing about it is trying too hard, which is rather the point of a good Reserva. This is the style that built Rioja's reputation abroad, and Murrieta has been quietly refining it since the middle of the nineteenth century. It is drinking beautifully right now, a decade on from the harvest, and in no hurry, so expect it to hold comfortably for another five years or so. If you want to understand what people mean by classic Rioja, without paying Gran Reserva money, this is the bottle to pour.

How to Serve

Serve at 17-18°C in a Bordeaux glass. Decant an hour ahead, or simply open it early.

Where to Drink It

• Barrafina, Dean Street, at the counter with jamon and grilled prawns.
• Sabor, Soho, the asador upstairs and a mature Rioja: hard to beat.

Food Pairings

Roast lamb or grilled chorizo; hard sheep's-milk cheeses.