2019 Bodegas Muga "Selección Especial" Reserva Rioja

Fresh and demure nose with lots of cocoa powder, blackcurrants, blackberries and a hint of cigar and charcoal. Excellent depth and class here with a very juicy center palate. Medium to full body with a long and layered finish.

This could be one of the best vintages of this wine. It helps that 2019 is one of the best vintages in the last 20 years. It is a perfect year for a wine that is made in this style. The best wines of this vintage will be fresh, ripe and concentrated. The vineyards where this wine is sourced from are in the Northwest corner of Rioja, one of the coolest sites in all of Rioja play to the strength of this wine in this vintage. This is one of the more modernly fashioned Rioja’s that Muga makes. This is unmistakably Rioja, but its style leans more towards Bordeaux and Napa than it does to the more Traditional wines of the Region. In fact, this could be the most Bordeaux-like expression that I have experienced from them. And if I could get more specific, the most St. Emilion like. The dark Tempranillo fruit immediately points the way. The polished quality of this wine, the tannins the oak suggest it too. And finally, that earthy minerality that you can find in Rioja, especially from vineyards that are closer to the Mountains, ties it all together for me. The fruit is ripe, pure, and vibrant, the oak use is great (they have their own cooperage on site) it frames, deepens, and adds fine spice tones that play with the inherent spice of the small amounts of Garnacha and Graciano in the wine. The finish is long and layers. That earthy/minerality pulls the wine along and presents a backdrop of the fruit to play against. This is a treat right now and it will just get better.