Marques de Murrieta is the oldest Rioja winery and was founded in the period when the grape louse (Pre-phylloxera) destroyed almost all vineyards in Europe at the end of the 19th century. In the high-altitude sandy soils of the Rioja Alta, the grape louse could not dig tunnels and thus could not move and these places have been preserved. The French winegrowers moved to the Rioja and that is how (high-end) viticulture started at Marques de Murrieta and is the founder of wine development in the Rioja. Marques de Murrieta is now a household name worldwide with its 100/100 points Ygay Blanco wines and as the first Spanish winery in 2021 they had the best wine in the world according to Wine Spectator.
