Bodegas Muga Selección Especial Reserva 2019
(Rioja, Spain) - [TA 96] [WA 95] [JS 95] [VM 94]

About the Winery:
Bodegas Muga is Rioja Alta’s premier producer and the Muga family are unanimously considered to be one of Spain’s most important winemaking families. The winery has practically legendary status due to its philosophy revolving around adherence to tradition, dynamism, and winemaking of the highest quality. Few producers in the world fashion wines that have such a sense of tradition and place as Muga’s. The wines of Muga have an absolutely distinct, unique, and inimitable profile.

Tasting Notes:
This Special Selection Reserva exhibits a medium-deep, dense garnet/black cherry colour. The nose is complex with ripe, red berry and black fruit coming to the fore with hints of black pepper and subtle, creamy, smoky oak, followed by notes of coffee and a touch of mint. The entry on the palate is smooth and elegant and develops with good volume towards an elegant, harmonious mid-palate revealing fresh, ripe red berry fruits and spice. The whole is underpinned by a powerful tannic structure and fresh acidity.

Food Pairing:
This wine will go well with red meats, lamb and all types of game dishes.

Technical Information

Grapes: Tempranillo, Grenache, Mazuelo (Carignan) and Graciano.
Soil: Clay-limestone Tertiary era terraces located on the slopes of Montes Obarenes and Sierra Cantabria.

Vinification:
After fermentation with indigenous yeasts in oak vats, the wine is Aged for 26 months, in new french oak barrel made in our cooperage. After being fined with fresh egg whites, the wine is bottled, after which it remains in our cellars for at least 18 months for further ageing.

Ageing:
26 months in French-oak casks made in our own cooperage at the winery. Shortly before bottling, the wine was fined with fresh egg whites. Once bottled, the wine matured another 18 months in our bottle cellars.

96 Points - Tim Atkin:
"A great, great vintage" is how Isaac Muga describes 2019 and he certainly has a point here on what is effectively the second wine of Torre Muga. Partnering Tempranillo with 12% Garnacha Tinta and 4% each of Mazuelo and Graciano, it's a structured, polished delight, with stylish 40% new French oak, blackberry, blood orange and liquorice favours and layered, granular tannins. 2025-40" (February 2023)

95 Points - Wine Advocate:
"The subtle and harmonious 2019 Selección Especial reflects a very complete and good vintage. It has to be one of the finest vintages for this wine. 2019 is a powerful vintage with balance and freshness. The grapes ripened thoroughly and developed a full set of aromas and flavors. It's complex and nuanced, with abundant, fine-grained tannins and a long, dry and tasty finish. Selección applies to the vineyards but also the barrels and everything that contributes to this wine; it's not only a selection of lots, which was the case before the 1994 vintage. 274,992 bottles produced. It was bottled between April and June 2022 after 26 months in barrel." Drink 2024-2032. - Luis Gutiérrez (February 2024)

95 Points, #39 Top 100 of 2023 - James Suckling:
"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. Drink or hold." (November 2023)

95 Points - Wine & Spirits:
Black, somber and rich, this has the gravitas of old-fashioned Rioja. Selección Especial is made primarily from vineyards in the hills stretching from Villalba to Abalos, after the first cut from those lots goes to Torre Muga. These parcels, close to the mountains, are influenced by limestone in the soils, while two others, including a cool, north-facing parcel, add fruit from clay soils to the blend. That coolness shows up against the warm scent of rosemary and Mediterranean scrub, alongside this wine’s blueberry-skin tannins. Youthfully suppressed, it’s concentrated and substantial, suited to long aging. If you open it now, decant it long before dinner with a butterflied leg of lamb grilled with rosemary stalks.

94 Points - Vinous:
"The 2019 Selección Especial blends Tempranillo, Garnacha and Graciano from vineyards on Montes Obarenes and the slopes of Sierra Cantabria. Aged for 26 months in the winery's French oak barrels, this garnet wine offers a balsamic core with delicate cherry and elder notes, accompanied by hints of licorice. Dry, intense and creamy, the chalky flow lingers, concluding with a velvety, complex finish. This red stands out for its crystal-clear expression, showcasing a range of Rioja's virtues." Drink 2024-2040. - Joaquín Hidalgo (December 2023)

92 Points - Wine Spectator:
"Savory aromas of forest floor, leather and tar transition to reveal a creamy core of crushed mulberry, cherry and wild strawberry fruit, red licorice and singed orange peel flavors. Shows muscle and focus, but this is elegant overall, marrying sculpted tannins with layers of flavor and length. Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano. Drink now through 2034." - Alison Napjus (April 2024)