Muga Reserva is deservedly one of our most popular Riojas and it is great to have it back on the shelves after an absence of a few months. It hits that perfect balance of modern and traditional. The fruit is clean and perfect, in a lush and bright and slightly spicy style, but elegant and medium-bodied. The elevated, Atlantic influence in the Rioja Alta region brings a Bordeaux-like focus to the effortless Spanish ripeness. Superb value and very versatile food wine.
Winery notes (2019 Vintage)
"This 2019 reserva wine has a bright, ruby-red colour, with medium depth and a garnet tinged rim. On the nose it proves to be a wine which is complex in aroma, in which primary aromas of fruit such as blueberries are enhanced by spicy nuances. On the palate it is long, balanced and elegant, with perfectly integrated acidity and smooth tannins. The finish is very long and fruity. Perfect to be drunk now but thanks to its great balance and structure it can be kept in the bottle for several more years.
Harvested by hand, Fermentation with indigenous yeast in wooden vats. Aged for 24 months in casks made from our selected oak. The wood is sourced in a proportion of 80% French oak and 20% oak from America. Before bottling the wine is fined using fresh egg whites. It is then left to refine in our bottle cellar for a minimum of 12 months before release for sale."
94/100 James Suckling (2019 Vintage)
"This is a structured and linear Muga Reserva with a creamy and fine-tannined backbone and graphite, cherry, plum and black-truffle character. Medium-bodied, racy and beautiful. 70% tempranillo, 20% grenache and 10% mazuelo and graciano. Delicious now, but will age beautifully in the cellar."
94/100 Luis Gutierrez, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (2019 Vintage)
"The 2019 Reserva, sold as Crianza in Spain, comes from a dry and warm year with low yields and concentrated wines. The grapes from the Haro zone, the four from Rioja, Tempranillo, Garnacha Tinta, Mazuelo and Graciano fermented destemmed and lightly crushed in oak vats with indigenous yeasts, and 80% of the volume matured in French oak and the rest in Centro European and American oak, 20% of them new, for 22 months, during which time the wine was racked every eight to nine months. This is serious and young but balanced, nuanced and complex. They are shortening the time in oak, as they feel they have better and younger barrels and think the wines need less time in oak and more time in bottle. This is very Muga, very Rioja and very good. They produced an impressive 960,000 bottles and 18,000 magnums of this. There is only one master blend that is bottled at different times. I tasted a bottle that was filled in April 2022 (because of the lack of availability of bottles!). Drink 2022 – 2027."