White rioja's evolution

I've fallen in love. For years white rioja left me pretty cold. I had such fond memories of Marqués de Murrieta's extremely traditional, deep-coloured examples from the 1950s and 1960s, tasted in the 1970s, that the modern, cool-fermented wines produced in the late-twentieth century left me pretty cold. But I have just tasted a dozen or so white riojas currently on sale and was really impressed.

One of them, the most traditional, was one of the three vintages nominated by Julia in her wine of the week last...