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Bodegas Murua scores highly with Rioja portfolio
The award-winning wines from Bodegas Murua combine Rioja traditions with innovation, as our expert’s tasting notes demonstrate.
Passion is a commonly cited reason for making wine. Certainly, there are elements of the work that require it: rising early to harvest, back-breaking work in the winery and nervously awaiting critics’ scores. Not many, however, would buy a winery simply as a passion project. Perhaps that is why Bodegas Murua’s award-winning wines are held in such regard.
The Masaveu family made its first wine investment by purchasing Bodegas Murua in 1974. In part, the project served as a tribute to Don Federico Masaveu Rivell, the family’s 19th Century ancestor who owned vineyards near Barcelona. However, it also served a much more immediate purpose: it would make wine for the family’s private consumption.
Only in the 1990s was the decision made to develop the winery and promote it widely. In particular, José Masaveu Herrero professionalised its operations when he took charge in 1998.
The process drove expansion and growth, with properties in Rías Baixas, Castilla y León and Asturias joining the group. The central ethos, however, has remained unchanged: limited production that celebrates longstanding traditions while integrating innovative practices.
A quintessential Rioja winery
In many ways, Bodegas Murua exemplifies the Rioja archetype. The winery is situated in Elciego, a historic village dotted with sandstone buildings and surrounded by vineyards.
As is commonplace in Rioja, Bodegas Murua’s vineyards consist of small plots, spread across Rioja Alavesa. It owns 80 hectares, consisting of 51 plots, in which it grows Rioja’s native varieties.
Tempranillo, unsurprisingly, tops the table, while the producer also owns parcels of Graciano, Mazuelo, Viura, Malvasia and Grenache (both red and white). Some of the vines are up to 110 years old, resulting in concentrated and complex wines.
The sites sit at around 450 metres above sea level. That elevation, combined with clayey-calcareous soils and an Atlantic influence, creates a mild climate that is well suited to high-quality winemaking.
In production as well, Riojan heritage is clear. The various expressions rely on extensive ageing in oak to achieve the desired style, including for Bodegas Murua’s barrel-fermented white wines.
The producer goes above and beyond, however, in vinifying its plots separately and limiting its production to 250,000 bottles. For some of its most exclusive bottlings, it only produces between 329 and 3,000 bottles in a vintage.
Turning to the future
Innovation, however, has its place as well. Having claimed its place among the most respected wineries of Rioja, the winemaking team has adopted innovation as its strategies to stay at the top of its game.
In particular, it has sought to transform both vineyards and winery with sustainable practices. Its Sustainable Wineries for Climate Protection seal places it among the foremost Spanish wineries working to reduce their climatic impact, while its ISO 14001 certification is evidence of its environmental management plan. It has, for instance, installed photovoltaic panels that have provided the winery with energy savings of more than 28%.
Moreover, it has listened to the latest thinking in vineyard management and adopted regenerative viticulture. The project, which involves planting fruit trees, installing nesting boxes, planting cover crops and introducing grazing sheep, has a clear benefit to biodiversity.
The benefits also extend to the soil itself. With a healthier biome, it can better support the vines and therefore the wine. Excitingly, it even allows the soil to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Such an innovative approach is demonstrating how sustainability initiatives can benefit both the wine and the planet.
Judges at the drinks business Autumn Tasting 2024 blind-tasted four wines from Bodegas Murua and awarded each a Gold medal. Patricia Stefanowicz MW provides her tasting notes below.
Murua Blanco Fermentado En Barrica 2022
- Producer: Bodegas Murua
- Region: Rioja
- Country: Spain
- Grape varieties: 75% Viura, 15% Malvasía, 10% Garnacha Blanca
- ABV: 14%
- Approx. retail price: £26.50
This wine pays homage to the traditional style of oaked white Rioja, but is modern in taste profile. Medium yellow-gold in colour, the wine displays orchard fruits overlaid with creamy oak and lemon accents. Dry and mid-weight, the palate has good freshness and mixed fruits (pear, apricot, peach) and kitchen spices carrying through to the finish. A serious wine, it will work well with grilled breast of chicken with a Thai-inspired spicy red-pepper sauce.
Murua Reserva 2016
- Producer: Bodegas Murua
- Region: Rioja
- Country: Spain
- Grape varieties: 92% Tempranillo, 4% Graciano, 4% Mazuelo
- Abv: 14.5%
- Approx. retail price: £28
This wine is a brilliant expression of Rioja Reserva exhibiting a deep ruby colour and hints of garnet on the rim and mulberry and damson fruit glossed by subtle toasty oak. The palate has good freshness and linen-textured tannins supporting the flavours. Nicely-defined and linear in style with a lengthy sappy finish, this wine will match sautéed chicken livers in a green peppercorn sauce served over long-grain rice.
M de Murua 2021
- Producer: Bodegas Murua
- Region: Rioja
- Country: Spain
- Grape varieties: 100% Tempranillo
- ABV: 15%
- Approx. retail price: £40
Aged for 18 months in French oak, this wine is definitely a special Vino de Autor and rather modernista in style. Deep purple-ruby in hue, and surprisingly youthful and vibrant, the wine displays blackcurrant, blackberry and red currant fruit overlaid with herbal and violet accents and toasty oak. The mid-weight palate is supported by racy acidity and grainy tannins with notes of cardamom and allspice adding interest. Well-defined and lingering, this is a perfect wine for rack of lamb accompanied by roast potatoes and Brussel sprouts.
Veguín de Murua Gran Reserva 2016
- Producer: Bodegas Murua
- Region: Rioja
- Country: Spain
- Grape varieties: 92% Tempranillo, 8% Graciano
- ABV: 14.5%
- Approx. retail price: £48
From specific parcels of vines up to 100 years old at the foot of the Sierra Cantabria/Toloño mountains, the wine has a deep purple-cherry colour belying its age. With concentrated red berry fruits and creamy oak accented by allspice, nutmeg and tobacco, the mid-weight palate is beautifully integrated and framed by lively acidity and grainy-textured tannins. An excellent example of ‘modern, yet traditional’ Gran Reserva full of zest, the wine will be a great match for vension fillet with a red-currant jelly and mace brown sauce.
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