GUD BLOG: SINGLE POST
Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial
Every now and again, a dreary weekday comes along and begs for some wine to improve it. Great wine – or even just expensive wine – can often create the feeling that it requires times of occasion for opening. But on those days that are less than stellar, that wine can be an occasion in and of itself.
Tonight, it’s a Rioja, Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial from the 2001 vintage, a year that was regarded favorably in the wine press. I’d never even heard of the wine let alone tasted it, but I bought a bottle on recommendation from Elie in Royal Oak.
Blood red with barely a hint of browning from age, it’s youthful despite its 10 years of life. And that shows on the nose: While it displays some rustic, meaty qualities, it’s initially a bit closed. Eventually, it opens up to show some tart raspberry jam aromas. Similarly, it starts out quite tannic, though not so much so as to be unenjoyable. Quite the opposite. There are hints of a minty Bordeaux quality and rough, oaky flavors along with plenty of fruit. Over time, layers build: licorice, plums, berries, spices.
All the somewhat superfluous wine media jargon and descriptors aside, this is delicious, dry, meat-friendly, powerful, age-worthy wine. “Masculine” in its youthful astringency and “feminine” in its somewhat mainstream elegance.
It stands in marked, stark contrast to a lot of the rustic wine I drink on a regular basis, but I find it captivating.
Ygay is only made in the “best” years in Rioja — 1978, 1998, 2001, etc — using 93% Tempranillo and 7% Mazuelo from the producer’s prime vineyard sites. It ferments in stainless undergoing daily remontage (circulating the wine from bottom to top of the vat) and pigeage (punching the “cap” of grape skins down into the wine) to ensure lots of skin contact, and undergoes at least 10 months of aging in new oak.
The 2001 spent a few additional years in older barrels and then spent another 3 years in the bottle before being released to the market. (The 1978 spent 18 years in the barrel before moving to the bottle!) These guys clearly are in no rush to get their product to market.
As I’m writing this tasting note, I’m finishing the last of the bottle, and there’s a strong acidity at the finish. It’s remarkable how much this has changed after 100 minutes or so and how many different aspects there are to this wine.
I often talk about how much I dislike oak, but while that flavor is present, it’s done so very thoughtfully here — and it’s where I find myself really puzzled by this wine. The barrel is present, but it’s not as though it’s overpowering, despite all the time in American oak, widely used in Spain and known for contributing powerful vanilla flavors. There’s barely a whiff of vanilla here. With age, that oak has already settled out or been buried behind all this tannin, and there’s at minimum another decade of improvement in this bottle.
This quite successfully walks a thin line between a fruity, oaked, international style of wine and a traditional Rioja with a pure red color and big, burly tannins. There’s no hint of purple hues in the glass or vanilla extract aromas in the nose, but they’ve managed to get intense extraction and fairly high alcohol (14%-ish). It sees new oak, but by the time it hits the market, most of that flavor is gone. It’s kind of a paradox, but it’s a fun paradox to unravel and enjoy on a rainy Monday night.
If you’re in the mood for a bit of a splurge but a lot of age-worthy bang for your buck, consider picking this up. It’s a delicious bottle.
2011.09.19 Evan Hansen at 11:05 pm
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One Response to Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial
What is it about great Rioja that turns our oakophobia upside down? I guess it’s…greatness? Nice photo.