Muga Prado Enea Gran Reserva Rioja 2014  £66.88

MUGA PRADO ENEA GRAN RESERVA 

In Muga, they always use the finest materials and are open to new techniques that provide greater quality without losing authenticity. To produce each of their wines, they continue opting for traditional procedures:Through the natural process of fining, they eliminate the suspended particles that appear in the wine.They carry out the decanting by the traditional method of gravity. They are also the only cellar in Spain with a master cooper and three in-house barrel-makers.

Along with the grapes for Torre Muga, the Prado Enea grapes are always the last to be brought into the winery. In this way we ensure an ideal level of ripeness. The grapes are always fermented in 10,000 kilo capacity oak vats without temperature control and no addition of yeasts. The maceration period varies but can continue for as long as twenty days. This wine is aged for 12 months in 16,000-litre oak vats, thirty-six months (minimum) in oak casks and thirty-six months (minimum) in the bottle. After ageing it is lightly fined using fresh egg whites.

Here we have a black-cherry coloured wine with medium depth and a deep robe.

It is delicate and fresh on the nose, with an initial impression of red-berried fruit (such as blackberries), spicy notes such as cinnamon, and a touch of toasted nuances from the cask recalling cedar wood, vanilla pods and autumn leaves. After 16 months in American-oak vats and 36 months in mainly French-oak casks, you can appreciate the good work of the wood and its balanced integration with the fruit.

On the palate it is fresh and long with balanced acidity. The tannin is bginning to become polished in a delicious, elegant way. It is an open-hearted wine with a lot of potential for laying down. This wine can be paired with casseroles, meat dishes or just enjoyed on its own.

No review currently for 2014 but this is what they said about 2011;

96 Points Roberparker.com

"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."

Drink Date 2019 - 2032

Reviewed by Luis Gutiérrez