Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial 2000

95 points Peñín Guide to Spanish Wine: "(tempranillo 87%, mazuelo 13%). Colour: pale ruby, brick rim edge. Nose: elegant, characterful, old leather, aged wood nuances. Palate: flavourful, full, complex, spicy, smoky aftertaste, fine tannins, good acidity. (2009)"

94+ points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "This is still a quite youthful wine out of magnum, but deep, pure and nascently complex as well, offering up a ripe and classy nose of black raspberries, cassis, cigar wrapper, a lovely array of Rioja spice tones, a fine base of soil and a well-done foundation of American oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and fairly ripe in personality in this vintage, with a rock solid core of black fruit, fine-grained tannins, tangy acids and a very long, focused and beautifully balanced finish. Out of magnum, this is going to be a virtually timeless wine, but it still needs a bit more time in the cellar to blossom completely. 2030-2100. (Mar/Apr 2022)"

93 points Peter Moser (Falstaff) (12/31/19).

93 points Wine & Spirits: "From Finca Ygay, one of the great estates of Rioja Alta, this wine is particularly concentrated due to April frosts, which reduced the crop to 60 percent of normal. The Gran Reserva Especial has historically been aged for decades at the bodega; this vintage, released after eight years, is still tight and closed. But even when it's first poured, the wine's sophistication shows in the firm mesh of the structure. It expands as it takes on air, developing the ease and give that makes this 2000 delicious to drink now, a spicy red for thick-cut lamb chops. (Dec 2008)"