Bodegas Muga Aro 2016
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Winemaker Notes
A very deep, black-cherry color with purplish undertones. The core is so deep it is almost opaque. A very youthful color, hardly developed at all for its age. Great concentration and depth on the nose with a complex array of aromatics that have developed
with the wine’s ageing in bottle, and which will be enhanced even more by longer ageing. Fruit sensations come to the fore, particularly red berry fruit and perfectly ripe forest fruit, such as blackberries, redcurrants and wild strawberries, together with floral notes (violet petals) and minerals (graphite and iron filings). Some spicy touches brought by the ageing process, such as cinnamon and black pepper, also come through. Well integrated oak demonstrates the high quality of the oak selected. Powerfully structured on the palate with good body and firm, high-quality tannins of great elegance combine with wonderful acidity. A sensation of
seamless solidity, without any aggressiveness whatsoever. Robust with great balance leading to a sensation of lovely freshness. Flavorsome and full, with layers of complex fruit flavor, minerality and spices. The aromas revealed on the nose return on
the palate but with more definition and precision. A long, full and elegant finish.
Blend: 70% Tempranillo, 30% Graciano
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesIf you’re looking for epic Rioja, you’ve come to the right place. This is the Muga family’s top selection of tempranillo and graciano, spontaneously fermented in small wooden vats, then aged in new French oak barrels. It gives an immediate impression of power before its tough tannins and cold Spanish aloofness submit to the warmth of the cherry fruit, luscious and lasting for minutes. Muscular up front, deliciously ripe in the end, this wine will hold firm for years as the complexity of its flavors builds.
Bodegas Muga is a family firm founded in 1932 by Isaac Muga and Aurora Caño. The first wines were made in an underground cellar, until in 1968 they decided to set up their own winery in a beautiful old 19th-century town-house situated in the city of Haro. The Bodegas Muga outstanding feature is that it always uses the finest materials, combining tradition with the latest advances in winemaking so as always to give its wines the very best quality without losing authenticity. Indeed, it is the only wine cellar in Spain which employs its own master cooper and coopers, who make all the vats for the cellar as well as the oak casks. The winery remains true to traditional winemaking methods such as racking the casks by gravity and fining the wine with fresh egg whites. Bodegas Muga has succeeded in combining the purest family tradition with an updated vision of the future which has allowed them to preserve their own personality and character.
Hailed as the star red variety in Spain’s most celebrated wine region, Tempranillo from Rioja, or simply labeled, “Rioja,” produces elegant wines with complex notes of red and black fruit, crushed rock, leather, toast and tobacco, whose best examples are fully capable of decades of improvement in the cellar.
Rioja wines are typically a blend of fruit from its three sub-regions: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental, although specific sub-region (zonas), village (municipios) and vineyard (viñedo singular) wines can now be labeled. Rioja Alta and Alavesa, at the highest elevations, are considered to be the source of the brightest, most elegant fruit, while grapes from the warmer and drier, Rioja Oriental, produce wines with deep color, great body and richness.