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Muga Prado Enea Gran Reserva 2006 75cl

DOCa | Rioja Alta | Rioja | Spain
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Critics scores
96 Robert Parker
The 2006 Prado Enea is a phenomenal bottle of traditional Rioja at its best. A blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha and the remaining 10% Mazuelo and Graciano aged for a long time in oak and bottled before release. This is a practice quite common from yesteryear, but that is a true rarity today. The technical data provided talks about incredible parameters, 14% alcohol and a pH of 3.39, both extremely low for a warm vintage like 2006. The grapes are sourced from higher-altitude terraced plots where the climate is cooler and drier and the soils are rich in clay. This is a wine that is not automatically produced every year. The wine spends its elevage in oak containers of different size, origin and age for no less than three years. The nose is intoxicating with a superb mixture of tertiary and more primary aromas like old furniture, cloves, cracked pepper, incense and cigar ash plus cherries in liqueur (that Garnacha!). The palate is medium-bodied, with great freshness (Jorge Muga tells me the pH is stabilized with aging in barrel), acidity and balance, with a silky texture, ultra-fine tannins and great persistence and length. This wine feels younger than it is, and seems to be aging at a glacial pace. With the stuffing and balance it has this should make very old bones, and drink greatly throughout its life. Superb! At this quality level the price seems like a bargain. 90,000 bottles produced. The next Prado Enea will be 2009 as they didn't get what they look for in this wine in either 2007 and 2008. Those were two cold vintages, and 2007 had 100 liters of rain during the harvest. Prado Enea is harvested in November and in 2008 there was frost at the end of October.<br/><br/>
92 Wine Spectator
The dense texture carries harmonious flavors of plum, tobacco, licorice, mineral and smoke in this polished red. Well-integrated tannins and orange peel acidity keep this balanced. The floral, spicy finish brings you back for another sip. Drink now through 2021. 800 cases made. –TM
Producer
Bodegas Muga
Located in the defining terroir of Haro, this family-owned bodega has been producing traditional wines using modern techniques since 1932. There are no stainless-steel vats at Muga, so everything is fermented in oak, following old-fashioned procedures they also, use natural fining processes, and gravity-fed decanting to instill Riojan authenticity. The Cano family even employs a master cooper and three in-house barrel-makers, making Muga the only cellar in Spain to do so. Historic Rioja at its best, their Reserva, Reserva Selección Especial, and Prado Enea Gran Reserva are chiefly Tempranillo - showing the rounded mellow characteristics, while the notions of Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano pack the punch of thrilling warming notes. Their most contemporary styled, Torre Muga, blends Mazuelo and Graciano with mostly Tempranillo, for an impressive new blackberry fruited wine. The bodega, year after year, produces the most reliable and affordable Reservas. But they also offer a delicious higher-end wine called Aro. It is a complex blend of 60-year-old Tempranillo and Graciano, which is aged for 18 months in new French oak.