2019 Bodegas Muga "Prado Enea" Gran Reserva Rioja

One of Rioja’s greatest pan-regional blends, this is a beautifully judged cuvée of Tempranillo, 17% Garnacha Tinta and 3% Mazuelo from Fonzaleche, Haro, Tudelilla, Sajazarra and Villalba de Rioja, making the most of cooler areas in a Mediterranean vintage. Deftly oaked in French and American barrels, it’s a youthful, structured, acid-driven red of great complexity with redcurrant and blackberry flavours, toasty, spicy oak, fine tannins and a lingering finish.

Only made in exceptional vintages, Prado Enea is the flagship wine of iconic winery Muga, and more importantly, one of the great wines of Rioja. This is the first vintage released since 2016, and it proves that it was well worth the wait! The 2019 vintage was warm and dry, with nearly perfect growing conditions and slightly lower yields than average. The resulting wine is classic Prado Enea through and through, balancing typical Muga power and intensity with an incredible amount of finesse on the palate. Aged in both American and French oak barrels, the wine is framed by toasty hazelnut and saddle leather notes, as well as well-integrated tannins. This is a style of rich and savory Gran Reserva Rioja that just seems to get more complex with every swirl in the glass. Dried thyme and oregano are followed by tea leaves and portobello mushroom, which are followed by graphite and dried red plum. It’s hard to put the glass down! Slowly savor this Rioja along with a great meal and conversation. Personally, I’d suggest picking up a few bottles – one to enjoy now and the others to open down the road, because it will be fascinating to see how this develops and gains even more complexity as the years pass.