2019 Muga Prado Enea Gran Reserva 1500ml 3pk

The 2019 Prado Enea Gran Reserva is their more traditional Rioja, a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano, mostly from Rioja Alta (Sajazarra, Cellorigo and Fonzaleche) at 550 to 700 meters in altitude, but the Garnacha is from different plots in the zone of Tudelilla at a high altitude. 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 élevage in barrel was extended to 36 months. 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. 119,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2023. The next vintages will be 2021 and 2022, and after that perhaps 2025, but certainly no 2023 or 2024 wine.

The Muga family has 475 hectares of vineyards and keep buying vineyards from suppliers when they don't have anybody to take over from them. These vineyards cover around 60% of their needs, and they buy the rest from local growers. They have started the process of obtaining organic certification for some plots, as they do not use insecticides, herbicides or mineral fertilizers and apply sustainable practices, using pheromones and organic products for the treatment of the vines. They have 14,000 oak barrels and 250 oak vats, as the whole winery is based on wood; they don't use stainless steel at all. They produce 2.2 million bottles per year.