A very complex wine with dried cherries, fresh earth and spice and a nutty edge with tobacco and fresh leather. The palate is exceptionally fresh, powerful and refined. A bright heart of cherries and blueberries and long, silky tannins. Effortless length. Drink or hold. - jamessuckling.com

Muga's wines just keeping getting better, whether you prefer a modern style or a grand classic as here. The Tempranillo blend includes 20% Graciano, Garnacha and Mazuelo, and is delightfully classical, from an exuberant vintage. It’s nevertheless very refined, mid-weight, with pure fruit and fine tannins. Sensible people may keep it in the cellar, but it’s lovely now.

The most classical of the wines from Muga, the 2011 Prado Enea Gran Reserva comes from a warm year that here was cooler than 2012, when they did not produce it. There won't be a 2013 either. So after this 2011, the following vintage will be 2014 but with fewer bottles and then 2015 and 2016. The wine has a developed nose with some tertiary notes, combined with some notes of ripe black fruit and sweet spices. It fees like an open, expressive and hedonistic year for Prado Enea. The palate reveals polished tannins and some balsamic and developed flavors, truffle, forest floor and hints of cigar ash and incense. Stylistically, this could be close to the 2006, which was also surprisingly fresh for the average ripeness found in Rioja in general. 92,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in early 2015 after almost 40 months in barrel. Time in bottle has polished the wine, and it's ready to drink on release, but it's a wine that is going to develop in bottle for a long time.

The 2011 Prado Enea checks in as a blend of 80% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha, Mazuelo that spent a full three years in oak, followed by three years in bottle before being released in May of 2019. It reveals a deep ruby/plum color as well as a closed, tight nose of blackcurrants, smoked earth, graphite, and Asian spices. It's rich, medium to full-bodied, has a layered, balanced texture, integrated tannins, and a great finish. It's holding things a little close to its vest at the moment, so I suspect 2-4 years of bottle age are warranted.

Aromatic and alluring, this generous red offers forest floor, tobacco and floral notes that frame a core of black cherry, plum, licorice and orange peel flavors. Well-integrated tannins support the broad texture, and juicy acidity keeps this fresh through the spicy finish. Drink now through 2027. 7,500 cases made, 1,000 cases imported. - winespectator.com, August 2019

80% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha, Mazuelo, Graciano. From vineyards on clay-limestone soils at an elevation of 550 m in the area of Villalba de Rioja. Fermentation took place in 100-hl oak vats and maceration lasted up to 20 days. Ageing for 12 months in 160-hl American oak vats followed by 36 months in mainly French oak barrels. Egg-white clarification and 36 months of further ageing. 2011 was a great year in Rioja and for that reason Muga decided to make this wine. Very open with a really expressive aromatic palate with evolution. Sweet spices, vanilla, nutmeg and smoke. It is a complex wine, with very molten tannins. It’s elegant and deep, very deep. Evolution dominates over fruitiness, but it is delicious anyway thanks to its truffle notes. A classic wine with a soft earthiness. Very expressive and representative of the best classic rioja wines. (FC)