Winemaker Notes
This 2019 Reserva has a bright, ruby-red color, 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.
This is the wine to accompany you anywhere, perfect to enjoy with baked fish, meat, rice dishes and good after dinner conversation.
Blend: 70% Tempranillo, 20% Grenache, 10% Mazuelo & Graciano
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
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
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
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.
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Wine Enthusiast
This deep-hued wine has a bouquet of black plum, cinnamon stick and citrus zest. Black cherry, pomegranate, milk chocolate, violet, caramel and eucalyptus flavors are wrapped in a sheath of velvety tannins that endure on the tongue and gums with a light floral note.
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Wine Spectator
A fragrant red, with enticing tobacco, floral and cocoa powder accents to the flavors of plum sauce, crushed mulberry, tangerine peel and red licorice. This is fresh and focused, integrating chalky tannins. Spiced finish. Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano. Best from 2025 through 2035. 60,000 cases made, 15,000 cases imported.
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.