Double 94-Point Scores for the 2021 Muga Reserva!
When Juan Muga visited our Elston store last year, he teased us with these words...
”Wait until you taste the '21 Reserva. It’s amazing.”
That day has come. The 2021 Reserva has arrived in our stores, and Juan was right!
One of the most visually opaque and intensely flavored versions of this longtime favorite that we’ve ever tasted, Muga’s 2021 Rioja Reserva is classic in style, and totally delicious.
In their glowing 94-point review, Wine Advocate calls it a "textbook example" of the Muga style with "clout, elegance and freshness." Also giving 94 points, Jeb Dunnuck writes that it "practically beams in full-bodied concentration."
This wine is a real show-stopper, especially for those who like a bit more oomph in their old school Rioja! We bring it to you today along with the last few bottles in Chicago of the 2016 Bodegas Muga “Prado Enea" Gran Reserva. Earning multiple 97-point reviews, it is an iconic wine from a stellar vintage.
Read on for the details, then click the Big Green Button to get your order in!
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2021 Bodegas Muga "Reserva"
Rioja, Spain
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Pouring an opaque black-ruby with streaks of purple and garnet, this is the most concentrated young Muga Reserva we remember seeing. It’s striking in the glass and seriously dense on the nose, with tightly wound black and red fruits, sweet wood spice, and an old world red earth minerality. In the mouth, this modern classic is impactful, featuring a quiet explosion of flavors including just-ripe wild strawberries, fig, light red flowers, toasty wood and spice.
This Tempranillo dominant blend hails from Muga’s estate vineyards and was aged for 24 months in a combination of French and American oak barrels that were made at Muga's in-house cooperage.
The wine manages to simultaneously be both massive and delicate, giving pleasure while inspiring curiosity. What a wonderful version of this longtime favorite. A big 93 points on our scale, Wine Advocate and Jeb Dunnuck both go a point higher, writing these exemplary 94-point reviews...
“The grapes for the 2021 Reserva (sold as Crianza in Spain), mostly Tempranillo with some Garnacha Tinta, Mazuelo and Graciano, were picked late in a cooler year when they finished the harvest the 20th of October, with plenty of times for the grapes to develop full aromas and flavors and complete ripeness. It fermented destemmed and lightly crushed in oak vats with indigenous yeasts, separating qualities, villages and soils, and matured in 80% French and 20% American oak barrels, 20% of them new, for 24 months, with racking every eight to nine months. It's a textbook example of their style in a very good year, with power, concentration and clout, elegance and freshness. It was a very harmonious year; the cycle was long and the tannins ripened to perfection. It's terrific and more so for the volume they produce (984,000 bottles of it). It was fined with egg whites and bottled in January 2024. Drink Date: 2025 - 2040.”
- 94 Points, Wine Advocate (2/27/2025)
“The winery’s flagship, the wine that introduced Muga to the world, the 2021 Muga Reserva is Tempranillo-dominant, with Garnacha, Mazuelo, and Graciano filling in the gaps. A larger-production wine, it offers tremendous quality, fermented in wooden vats using indigenous yeasts, the grapes separated by quality, soil type, and village origin. This one in particular is from a beautiful vintage and practically beams in full-bodied concentration, with supple, silky tannins and light touches of oak spice, cedar, balsamic, and white pepper. A new release, it should continue to thrive another 15-20 years. Maturity: 2025 - 2045.”
- 94 Points, Jeb Dunnuck (7/30/2025)
While this will age beautifully, the question to ask is... Why wait?! Wine Advocate quotes $38. Median online retail is $32. As usual, we're less. If you love Muga, or love plush, charismatic reds of any type, you can’t miss this!
Vin Chicago Price: 27.59
Last Shot at Muga’s 2016 Prado Enea Gran Reserva!
2016 Bodegas Muga “Prado Enea" Gran Reserva
Rioja, Spain
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While Muga is most famous for the incredible Reserva bottling described above, hardcore Rioja lovers are equally passionate about their iconic “Prado Enea” Gran Reserva.
In the exceptional 2016 vintage, this most-traditional of Muga's wines earned a plethora of massive reviews, including a 97+ point rating from Wine Advocate who, having rated 25 vintages since the 1969 harvest, picks it as the best Prado Enea ever!
“The expressive, complex and nuanced 2016 Prado Enea Gran Reserva is a textbook traditional Rioja in the making. 2016 was a very elegant year, with aging potential, volume and very good acidity and freshness. It's full-bodied but fine-boned, has 14.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.6 and 5.25 grams per liter acidity. It has terrific balance, with all the components in the right proportion to age superbly in bottle. They have also been working on the selection of wood used. This wine matured in French and American oak barrels for three years, and the oak is super integrated. 127,808 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2020. It was an exceptional year with volume and quality. Drink Date:2024 - 2040.”
- 97+ Points, Wine Advocate (2/29/2024)
“Spiced red and black fruits, new saddle leather, smoky tobacco, and lead pencil are just some of the nuances in the 2016 Prado Enea Gran Reserva, a pure, medium to full-bodied, flawlessly balanced, beautifully textured Rioja from this team. With beautiful yet building tannins, a pure, focused style, and awesome length on the finish, it's a brilliant wine with a solid two decades of prime drinking ahead of it. Maturity: 2024 - 2044.”
- 97 Points, Jeb Dunnuck (7/3/2024)
Wine Advocate quotes $120 for this masterpiece. Median online retail is $100. Our price is very hard to beat. Only a few wooden twelve-pack cases available.
Vin Chicago Price: 87.99
