2020 Marques De Riscal Tapias

Marqués de Riscal, one of the oldest wineries in Rioja

Marqués de Riscal was founded in Elciego (Álava) in 1858 by Guillermo Hurtado de Amézaga. As early as 1858 it became the first winery in Rioja to produce wines according to Bordeaux methods. In 2006, it inaugurated the City of Wine, with a hotel designed by the architect Frank O. Gehry, which is the most avant-garde work carried out to date by a Spanish winery. In 2021 Marqués de Riscal has been named the second-best vineyard in the world and first in Europe in the World's Best Vineyards 2021 competition.

Las Tapias is a 15-hectare vineyard plot which ranks among the best of Marqués de Riscal’s vines. It is situated in Elciego. It dates from 1968 and was planted in the traditional way by planting rooted cuttings and grafting them in the vineyard with grafts from an old vine plant of unique quality. From this singular vineyard a selected area of 2.85 hectares has been set aside from the rest of the plot for the production of Tapias.

Discover Tapias: https://youtu.be/e06eDzFfbDQ

The 2020 vintage

Tasting notes

Las Tapias is a notable wine which comes from a combination of features which are hard to fi nd: fi nesse, elegance and complexity. It has tension and good structure, it is long and fresh. A blend of delicacy and power with clearly defi ned notes of redcurrants and cherries with slightly mentholated, smoky and spicy underlying nuances coming through. A wine with good balance and harmony, and a creamy texture which leaves an intense recollection of fruit. Its tannin concentration is excellent, with tannins of pure velvet which leave no sensation of astringency. And it is all presided over by minerality. Like the great vintages of the house it stands out as a great wine for laying down with a very long potential for ageing. A wine which looks back to the past with its eyes on the future.