The story of the Marqués de Murrieta winery is inextricably intertwined with the history of Rioja wine. The winery’s founder, the Marqués de Murrieta, brought production techniques to Spain from Bordeaux. In 1852, he produced his first wine in Logroño, moving into the Ygay Estate in the late 1870s. Located at the heart of La Rioja, the Estate is home to Ygay Castle, headquarters of the Marqués de Murrieta wineries. The castle is surrounded by 300 hectares of vineyards. Recognised as one of the most iconic century-old structures in Europe’s wine culture, Castillo Ygay accommodates the whole of Marqués de Murrieta’s winemaking history, a history that laid the foundations of the Rioja Designation of Origin DOCa.

In 1983, the Cebrián-Sagarriga family took up Murrieta’s mantle. In 2007, they commenced meticulous restoration work on Ygay Castle that was finished in 2014 – the year the winery reopened its doors. Visitors can now tour the vineyards and century-old facilities, in addition to tasting the Estate’s wines. Inside the castle are the historic production cellar, the cask ageing rooms, and the collected wines dating from 1852 to the present. It is a private collection of incalculable value.

With the opening of two new production facilities in 2017, Vicente D. Cebrián-Sagarriga, the Count of Creixell and current Chairman of Marqués de Murrieta, will have completed the first stage of the modernization of this historic winery. With the help of his young, highly-skilled team, the Count has linked the history of Rioja’s first winery with its present, while creating a glimpse of a future of craftsmanship and innovation.