Winemaker Notes
The wine has a bright ruby-red color with medium depth and a garnet rim. Intense and complex on the nose, where you can find primary fruit aromas of raspberry and blackberry, secondary aromas of vanilla and licorice and a subtle hint of tertiary aromas such as chocolate and ripe fruit.
Very well-balanced on the palate, with good acidity and soft tannins. The finish is long and fruity. Perfect for enjoying now, but also thanks to its great balance and structure, a wine you can lay down for a number of years.
This wine will make an excellent match for meat dishes, such as T-bone steak, and also with charcuterie and all kinds of casseroles.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This was the only red that Muga made in 2018, and the wines from the best vineyards went into the blend. In other words, top vineyards were declassified. Medium-bodied with very fine tannins that are caressing and refined. Plenty of subtle berries, chocolate and walnuts.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Muga Reserva is a similar blend and has pretty, slightly fresher notes of darker, almost blue fruits as well as violets, spring flowers, and cedary oak. More medium-bodied on the palate, it shows the fresher, elegant style of the vintage, has beautiful tannins, no hard edges, and outstanding length on the finish.
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.