Bodegas Muga Bodegas Muga Prado Enea Gran Reserva 2019 750ml

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.

Deep ruby in color, this wine has a nose of cocoa powder, coffee bean, lavender and cherry. It is smooth at first sip, with tannins that slowly build in volume and then drift away to reveal black cherry, blackberry, chocolate, mint and orange-zest flavors. The brilliant finish is marked with a floral note. Drink through 2036.

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.

The 2019 Prado Enea Gran Reserva is their more traditional Rioja, is a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano. They didn't produce Prado Enea in 2017 or 2018, so this is the follow-up of the superb 2016. The bunches were harvested into 200-kilogram boxes, destemmed, put through optical sorting and fermented in small oak casks with indigenous yeasts. The nose is phenomenal, keeping the essence of Muga with a touch of Garnacha perfume; it's still young and undeveloped for its age, not yet tertiary. The wine is full-bodied but fine-boned and has 14.7% alcohol, a pH of 3.46 and 5.81 grams per liter acidity. Still young, the wine has power and elegance and very good aging potential.

Aged in barrel for 36 months, the 2016 Gran Reserva Prado Enea is a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano from Rioja Alta. This dark, garnet wine reveals thyme, plum and sour cherry notes, accompanied by reductive nuances of matchstick and saffron. Additionally, it displays hints of biscuit, wax and dried flowers. On the palate, it is dry, supple and chalky, with a juicy, energetic flow that leads to a long-lasting, complex finish. While the leaner style brought on by the cold vintage may appear slightly unsubstantial by Prado Enea lovers, it remains absolutely delicious. Drink 2024-2035

Layered aromatics of blackberry, plum and elderberry are framed by delicate herbal tones, cedar and a hint of coconut from the élevage. As it opens, the bouquet gains complexity and reveals subtle spice and sweet oak nuances. On the palate, notable energy and clarity of fruit are supported by fine-grained tannins and a juicy core that carries the flavors effortlessly through the finish. Gentle notes of coconut and caramel linger in the background, adding depth without overshadowing the fruit. Structured yet vibrant, this vintage captures the classical balance of Prado Enea, power moderated by freshness and length. Beautifully composed, this Rioja should age gracefully for decades.

A powerful red that nonetheless shows poise and fine integration, wrapping a core of dense tannins around focused flavors of baked black plum, green olive, fig cake and ground coffee, with a savory underpinning of loamy earth, leather and leafy herb notes. Plush in texture and appealing, with a long, well-spiced finish. Tempranillo, Graciano, Mazuelo and Garnacha. Best from 2026 through 2036. 8,000 cases made, 2,000 cases imported.

This statuesque red shows fine balance, with its firm core of sculpted tannins married to a plush texture that supports a generous range of crushed black cherry and black raspberry fruit and notes of sweet tobacco, iron, olive tapenade, vanilla and paprika. Graceful, fresh and focused through the lasting finish. Tempranillo, Graciano, Mazuelo and Garnacha. Drink now through 2039. 10,000 cases made, 2,500 cases imported.