Murillo Viteri Blanco 2025: Viura and Malvasía for Everyday Drinking

Not every wine has to wait for a big occasion. Murillo Viteri Blanco 2025 is a young white from DOCa Rioja made for everyday life: fresh, fruity and priced so that you can always keep a bottle in the fridge.

It is made by Bodegas Murillo Viteri, the family winery in Cenicero that also produces a Reserva aged 24 months in barrel and a signature old-vine wine, Libertad de Expresión.

This white is the other side of the winery. There is no wood and no long wait here, just white Rioja grapes from its own family vineyards, fermented cold to keep all their aroma.

In this guide we tell you which grapes go into it, how it is made, how to serve it so it keeps its freshness and which everyday dishes it works best with.

Rioja is also white

When people talk about Rioja, almost everyone thinks of aged reds. But the appellation has a long tradition of white wines, from young and light ones to those aged in barrel for years.

The DOCa Rioja regulations authorise several white varieties. The traditional ones are viura, malvasía and garnacha blanca, joined by others such as tempranillo blanco, maturana blanca and turruntés.

Viura is by far the most widely planted. It is the base of most Rioja whites, both young ones and those meant for ageing.

Viura up close

The wine is 95% viura. Outside Rioja, this grape is known as macabeo, and it is one of the three classic varieties of cava, along with xarel·lo and parellada.

It is a grape with a discreet aroma, fresher than exuberant. It gives notes of white fruit, such as apple or pear, and an acidity that keeps the wine lively in the mouth.

That discretion is an advantage at the table. A viura white does not compete with the dish, adapts to almost anything and does not tire you after the second glass.

If you usually order verdejo or sauvignon blanc, viura will seem more restrained: fewer herbaceous and tropical notes, more white fruit and a cleaner finish. It is a change of register worth trying.

Malvasía: the 5% you can notice

The other 5% is malvasía, a traditional white variety of Rioja that covers little land today. In a small proportion, it acts almost like a seasoning.

Its role is to add floral perfume and a touch of body. It helps explain the flower aromas of a wine dominated by viura.

The blend of viura and malvasía is one of the most classic combinations in traditional Rioja whites.

How Murillo Viteri Blanco 2025 is made

The key technical detail the winery provides is fermentation at a controlled temperature between 14 and 15 °C. It seems minor, but it defines the style of the wine.

During fermentation, yeasts turn the sugar in the grape into alcohol and give off heat. If the temperature rises too much, the most delicate fruit aromas are lost.

By keeping the tank at around 14 or 15 °C, fermentation moves more slowly. That preserves the primary aromas, those that come directly from the grape: fruit and flowers.

It is a white of the current vintage, without wood, made to be drunk young, when its fruit is at its liveliest.

Cold fermentation is the technique that explains why a young white smells so much of fruit. It is the same principle as keeping freshly squeezed juice in the fridge: cold protects the aroma.

Tasting note

It is a smooth, fresh and fruity wine, with intense aromas of flowers and yellow fruit. Phase by phase, this is what you can look for:

• Sight: pale, bright yellow, as befits a young viura without wood.
• Nose: intense, with flowers and yellow fruit, such as peach or apricot.
• Palate: smooth, balanced and refreshing, fruity and without rough edges.
• Finish: light, with a clean feel and the acidity of viura leaving the mouth fresh.

It is an easy wine to understand, without complications. That is why it works so well for people just starting out with white wines.

Do not ask it for the complexity of an aged white. Its virtue is different: offering clean fruit and freshness from the first glass to the last, without tiring.

Serving: very cold and in an ice bucket

The winery wants it very cold: between 6 and 8 °C. That is the temperature at which this young white shows its freshness and its clean feel in the mouth.

The most practical approach is to take it out of the fridge just before serving. If it warms by a couple of degrees in the glass, you will notice the nose of flowers and yellow fruit opening up even more.

Use a medium-sized white wine glass, slightly narrower at the top, to concentrate the aromas. And keep an ice bucket on the table throughout the meal: a white this fresh loses its appeal as soon as it warms up.

Quick trick: if you need to chill a bottle at the last minute, put it in a bucket with water, ice and a good handful of salt. In a quarter of an hour it will be ready, much sooner than in the freezer.

Pairing for every day

It goes well with appetisers, fish, seafood, light rice dishes, salads and white meats. A fresh, fruity viura white is a wild card in the home kitchen. Here are some specific combinations:

• Fried or battered fish: the acidity cleans the fat of the frying with every sip.
• Grilled hake or sea bream: delicate fish that a discreet wine does not cover up.
• Salad with fresh cheese: the fruit of the wine accompanies the freshness of the dish.
• Grilled prawns or steamed mussels: simple seafood, without sauces, finds in this wine a fresh, clean companion.
• Lemon chicken or grilled chicken breast: light white meats that do not trample the fruit of the wine.
• Grilled seasonal vegetables: asparagus, artichokes cooked just right or courgette.
• Appetiser of pickles and nuts: olives, banderillas or toasted almonds.
• Vegetable rice or a Spanish potato omelette: simple dishes for an unpretentious wine.

Avoid meat stews, very cured cheeses and powerful sauces. A young, light white is buried under those flavours.

Compared with a barrel-aged Rioja white

Rioja has two big families of whites. One is that of this wine: young, without wood and designed for freshness. The other is the barrel-aged white, which can spend months or years in oak.

The barrel-aged white gains in volume, in notes of nuts, toast or vanilla, and in ageing potential. In exchange, it loses some of the freshness and the direct fruit aroma.

If you like light whites for an aperitif, stick with the young one. If you are looking for a white for a spoon dish or fish in sauce, the barrel-aged one will be a better companion.

How long it lasts: cellaring and open bottle

A young white does not improve with the years. It is enjoyed while the fruit is lively, ideally during the year after the harvest.

If you buy the case, keep it in a cool, dark place and open the bottles over the months. Do not save it for three years from now.

Once opened, the bottle keeps well for a day or two in the fridge with its stopper. From the third day it starts to lose aroma, although it is still perfect for cooking.

Price and who it is for

The winery sells it online in a case of 12 bottles for €47, about €3.92 per bottle as an indicative price. It is an everyday white price, with no middlemen.

On the list of a bar or restaurant, a young Rioja white with this profile usually appears in an approximate range of €12 to €18 a bottle.

It is a wine to keep cold at home, for summer meals, aperitifs with friends and for anyone who wants to start discovering Rioja whites without spending much.

Is there anything simpler and nicer than a cold glass of white Rioja, a plate of fried fish and a long afternoon ahead?