#51 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2024
The 2021 vintage showcases a vivid ruby-red hue with medium intensity and a garnet edge. Its nose reveals a complex and intense character, dominated by wild forest fruits such as blackberries and blueberries, accented by subtle spice notes. On the palate, it unfolds with elegance, offering a long and balanced experience marked by well-integrated acidity and gentle tannins. The finish lingers richly with vibrant fruit flavors. Ideal for immediate enjoyment, this wine’s refined structure also allows it to develop gracefully over several years. It pairs exquisitely with ribeye steak, charcuterie, and a variety of casseroles.
The grapes for the 2021 Reserva (sold as Crianza in Spain), mostly Tempranillo with some Garnacha Tinta, Mazuelo and Graciano, were picked late in a cooler year when they finished the harvest the 20th of October, with plenty of times for the grapes to develop full aromas and flavors and complete ripeness. It fermented destemmed and lightly crushed in oak vats with indigenous yeasts, separating qualities, villages and soils, and matured in 80% French and 20% American oak barrels, 20% of them new, for 24 months, with racking every eight to nine months. It's a textbook example of their style in a very good year, with power, concentration and clout, elegance and freshness. It was a very harmonious year; the cycle was long and the tannins ripened to perfection.
The winery’s flagship, the wine that introduced Muga to the world, the 2021 Muga Reserva is Tempranillo-dominant, with Garnacha, Mazuelo, and Graciano filling in the gaps. A larger-production wine, it offers tremendous quality, fermented in wooden vats using indigenous yeasts, the grapes separated by quality, soil type, and village origin. This one in particular is from a beautiful vintage and practically beams in full-bodied concentration, with supple, silky tannins and light touches of oak spice, cedar, balsamic, and white pepper.