Today’s Story: Bodegas Muga
Bodegas Muga is a family-owned winery established in 1932 in Haro, La Rioja, Spain by Isaac Muga and his wife Aurora Caño. Their children, Manuel and Isacín, picked up the baton to carry the winery into its second generation, however it is truly the current third generation responsible for modernizing the estate. Manuel’s sons Manuel, Juan, and Eduardo look after management of the estate, sales, and marketing, whereas Isacín’s sons Jorge and Isaac work in viticulture and winemaking. In recent past, Jorge shifted toward more complex blending in his wines by utilizing typically 20-30% of native varieties besides Tempranillo, particularly Garnacha, Graciano, and Mazuelo. For all of their wines, Muga utilizes classical winemaking methods and fermentation, aging, and storage is accomplished in oak barrels produced by their very own cooperage. The wines are racked using gravity every four months and before bottling they are fined using egg whites. Some of the wines (such as the one I’m reviewing today) are bottled unfiltered.
A relatively large winery, Muga owns 250 hectares of vineyards and produces roughly 1.5 million bottles of wine annually. With their vineyards planted to Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo, Graciano, Viura, and Malvasía, Muga’s portfolio includes a broad range of wines from White and Rosado to Red Rioja Reservas and Cava (sparkling). You can visit their website here.
Today’s Wine: 2013 Rioja Reserva
70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha, 10% Graciano & Mazuelo; 14% ABV
The 2013 Rioja Reserva is nearly fully opaque medium ruby in color. I decanted this for about an hour and the nose opens to express aromas of black cherry, plum, blackberry, purple and blue florals, leather, charred earth, tar, chocolate, vanilla, and oak. On the palate, I get notes of blackcurrant, blackberry, cherry, black raspberry, cola, tobacco, slate, dried rocky earth, green herbs, and smoky mineral. This wine is medium- to full-bodied with medium (+) acidity, dusty medium tannins, and a long finish.
Price: $25 ($16-$18 in Europe). This is an incredible value that drinks with refined elegance now but still has gas in the tank to go another 5+ years. Pair this with roasted pork loin, veal, lasagna, or Manchego cheese.
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