Description

Data sheet:

Store: Muga

DOCa: Rioja

Variety: 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha, 10% Mazuelo and Graciano

Grade: 14,0% vol.

Tasting note: We find a wine with a medium-high layer, ruby red in color with brick reflections. A dense tear that gives us an enveloping sequence in the glass.
In the first place, we see notes of red berries such as blackberries and hints of spices. All this very well harmonized with smoky aromas from its passage through woods with a light-medium toast. The branch vanilla is present in the background with notes of coffee.
In the mouth it has a honeyed attack, an enveloping tannin with mentholated touches. To highlight an interesting final persistence on the palate.

Serving temperature: 16º C

Geology and Soil: Clay-calcareous tertiary terraces.

Elaboration: Fermentation with indigenous yeast in oak tanks. Aged for 24 months in barrels made with selected oak trees in our cooperage. Prior to bottling, a clarification is carried out with fresh egg white. Once in the bottle, it will undergo a refining process for at least twelve months in our winery.

Pairing: At Made in Spain Gourmet we recommend pairing it with white beef, Iberian pork and some type of stew. It fits with semi-cured and cured sheep and goat cheeses, and also with some creamy cheeses such as those from Oncala or Alma de Calaveruela.

Muga vineyards

Probably one of the terroirs that best defines the typicity of the wines made in Haro. Its geological and climatic characteristics give the wines a strong personality with great aging potential, making it a unique place in La Rioja. Located a few kilometers from Haro, it is located on a plateau with a very particular geological structure to which we must add its fantastic protection from the cold north winds. In short, an exceptional vineyard. They are the first vineyards owned by the Muga family. The quality of its high-end wines resides in this paradisiacal setting. Tempranillo, Mazuelo, Graciano live together in this vineyard to give us magnificent wines. This is an example of a family's work to ensure quality in the future. Muga does not give up in its efforts to continue investing in the best terroirs in the area. For our newly planted vineyards, we not only seek to recover the highest quality land, but we also work so that the selection of each and every one of our vines is the best and for this reason Muga plants its vineyards with our own selection of vines. These vineyards located at the highest altitude of La Rioja, being the limit of cultivation, produce wines with very good acidity and aging potential. Few wineries bet on such extreme areas, but our peculiar cultivation system allows them to produce top-quality wines and discover the potential of each one of their vineyards.

La Rioja Alavesa: the elite of La Rioja wines

Rioja Alavesa is classified as a sub-zone in the Rioja Qualified Denomination of Origin. It has 13.500 hectares of vineyards and several hundred wineries, which result in an annual average of around 40 million liters of wine.

The area especially produces red wines with general specific characteristics, such as a bright and lively color, a fine aroma, a fruity taste and a pleasant palate. These peculiarities are due to the clayey-calcareous soils of the area, which are excellent for the vines to absorb the necessary moisture. The climate and the location of the vineyards also contribute to its quality, behind the Sierra de Toloño, which protects the vines from the cold north winds and allows the vines to take better advantage of the heat.

The reds are the most representative wines of the region and are made with the Tempranillo varieties (around 79% of the total is produced from this grape), Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano.

The young or red wines of the year are mostly made using the traditional method of carbonic maceration, in which whole clusters are fermented in a 'lake' for between seven and ten days. Once free of skins and scratches, they go to the vats where they will finish fermentation.

For their part, crianza, reserva and gran reserva wines are made using the Bordeaux or destemming process. It consists of breaking the grape, removing the stems and incubating the must with its paste for seven days. After several fermentations, they go to the barrels for aging. It will be the time spent in the barrel and in the bottle that will make the difference between crianzas, reservas and gran reservas.

Due to the fact that rosé and white wines are increasingly appreciated both inside and outside our borders, winemakers and oenologists work on the production of quality wines from these varieties, in a bid to approach all markets.

Additional Information

Weight :	1,6 kg
do	DOCa Rioja

Information about Bodegas Muga

Muga is one of those few wineries in Rioja that has managed to combine the most absolute family tradition with a renewed vision of the future, which has allowed them to maintain a unique character and personality in their wines.

The current origin dates back to 1932, when the production of wines began in a typical winery in the old part of Haro, the capital of Rioja Alta.

Forty years later, Isaac Muga Martínez bought a 1969th century mansion in the emblematic Barrio de la Estación in that city. Shortly after, in XNUMX, he died and his sons Manuel and Isaac were in charge of taking over the family business, to which their sons have joined today.

The vineyards of Bodegas Muga (El Estepal, La Loma, Baltracones, Sajazarra) are nestled in the foothills of the Obarenes Mountains, in the middle of Rioja Alta, where they enjoy a peculiar climate. The unique geography and orientation of the slopes, as well as their location at the crossroads of the surrounding climates (Mediterranean, Atlantic and continental), combine harmoniously to create an ideal climatic space for the grape.

The soils in this area are mainly clay-calcareous, but they are subdivided into small entities with varieties in their physical and chemical properties, which provide each property with its own very defined personality.

This storm of climatic influences and soils defines a long vegetative cycle in which the grape and all its components undergo a delicate, prolonged and complex maturation. This undoubtedly explains the high appreciation of this wine region. Here Bodegas Muga owns 200 hectares of its own vineyards, but controls up to 150 more from other farmers. Varieties such as Tempranillo (which is the essence of red wines), Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano are grown on these lands; and Viura and Malvasia for whites.

In its nearly 25.000 square meters everything revolves around the oak. Bodegas Muga has four fermentation rooms with 90 wooden vats whose capacities vary from 3.000 to 15.000 kilograms of capacity. Thanks to this wide range of possibilities, grapes can be individually vinified depending on their quality and vineyard of origin.

Bodegas Muga is one of the few Spanish wineries that has its own cooperage. Three coopers and a cubero are in charge of working the oak wood in the old way, as in the past. Next to where the wine is made is this space, one of the most loved by owners and visitors. Watching the staves bend and dominate the wood in the way that artisans make them is a unique moment.

An exemplary winery and one of the most prestigious in La Rioja, which since its inception has produced vintage after vintage wines with the family seal: “Muga style”.