2016 Bodegas Muga Rioja Reserva
2016 Bodegas Muga Rioja Reserva This wine is ruby-red with glints of brick-red and a medium-high depth of colour. Dense legs which provide you with a sequence of patterns around the sides of the glass. Initially you can find notes of red fruit aromas such as blackberries and reminders of spices. This is all well balanced by smoked aromas from its time in wood which had received a light-to-medium toasting. A subtle vanilla pod aroma coming through with roast coffee nuances. A smooth, mellow attack, with tannins wrapping the sides of the mouth with hints of menthol. In the finish the interesting lingering persistence is worthy of note. You can pair this wine with veal, Iberian ham and charcuterie and some kinds of stews and hotpots.
95 James Suckling: This is really tight and powerful with gorgeous tannins and solid fruit. Full body. Tight and composed. Wet earth, smoked meat and hints of black truffles. Very long and powerful. Wonderful length. Real Rioja. One of the top best-value, high-quality reds in Spain. Drink or hold.
Bodegas Muga
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.