Bodegas Muga Happy Hour Wine Tasting with Special Guest Eduardo Muga

"He who doesn't know how to drink, doesn't know how to live,"
- Angelo Gaja

And we know how to drink wine here at Wine Watch!  We have a few great events coming up before we wrap things up here and go into holiday gift box mode. 
We just got word that our good friend Eduardo Muga will be in town next week and even thought we usually do not work on Tuesday night at the Wine Bar we are always happy to host one of the iconic Bodegas from Rioja here.
I will never forget my visit to Muga winery in 1994 and our dinner there in the cellars of Haro.  The hospitality you receive in Spain is second to none and we will be happy to return the hospitality to any member of the Muga family that is here visiting South Florida.
Join us as we welcome the current generation of the Muga Family Eduardo Muga to a special Tuesday night happy hour at Wine Watch Wine Bar.  The fee for this tasting is $95 + tax, to make a reservation call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com. 

BODEGAS MUGA HAPPY HOUR WINE TASTING FEATURING WINES FROM RIOJA
WITH SPECIAL GUEST EDUARDO MUGA
Tuesday, November 7, 2023
6:00PM


2022 MUGA ROSADO RIOJA
2022 BODEGAS MUGA 'FLOR DE MUGA' ROSADO, RIOJA DOCA
2022 BODEGAS MUGA BLANCO FERMENTADO EN BARRICA, RIOJA DOCA
2019 BODEGAS MUGA 'FLOR DE MUGA' BLANCO, RIOJA DOCA
2019 BODEGAS MUGA 'EL ANDEN DE LA ESTACION' CRIANZA, RIOJA DOCA
2019 MUGA RIOJA RESERVA
2019 MUGA RESERVA SELECCION ESPECIAL RIOJA
2016 MUGA RIOJA PRADO ENEA GRAN RISERVA
2019 MUGA TORRE MUGA RIOJA

Menu
Selection of Cheese and Charcuterie
Albondigas
Lolly Pop Lamb Chops with Mongolia BBQ
Manchego Prosciutto Spanish Olives and Saffron Flatbread
Pulpo a la Gallega

The fee for this tasting is $95 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463.

A bit about Bodegas Muga:

Many wine writers have referred to Spain over the last decade as the “Sleeping Giant”.  Spain has a history of wine production that dates back over 2000 years, to the time when the Greek and the Phoenician traders colonized the country.  This country lays claim to having the most acreage planted to vines of any country on earth. 

Although it is not until the mid-1980’s that the wines from this country got any respect at all in the wine press.  Throughout the communist rule of Franco, there was very little improvement in the quality of the wines.  One of the major factors was that there was little imported wine that came into Spain.  This lack of foreign competition created little stimulus for the local wineries to produce anything but ordinary wines.  With the departure of Generalissimo , and the restoration of democracy came great changes in the wine industry.  There had always been that handful of producers that were making excellent quality wines, but with little competition from rival wine producing countries every Bodega owner in Spain had reason to improve their wines.

Isaac Muga Martinez started Bodegas Muga in 1932 during a period of crisis in Spain.  In the beginning the bodega was making wines solely from grapes grown on the family vineyard located in the heart of the town of Haro.  Isaac died in 1969 and the winery was passed on to his two sons, Isaac and Manuel Muga Cano.  They expanded the winery further and moved the location of the Bodega (winery) to its present location at Barrido de la Estacion on May 4, 1972.  This group of buildings that the winery currently occupies had a rich history in the town of Haro, they were a warehouse for colonial goods, a liquor distillery as well as a winery in the past.  The family was not able to manage the necessary investment itself, so with the aid of the Central de Inversion y Credito (CIC), a center for investment and credit, the Muga’s were able to afford the big move.  Although this meant that they became a joint owner of the Bodega, the Muga family was able to retain a 51% ownership and control of the daily operations. 

Bodegas Muga is what we would call an “old school” producer, meaning they hold fast to some of the traditional production methods and use grapes that are native to Rioja.  The production here is mainly red, with white and rose wines making up around 10% of the production.  Almost half of the grapes come from the family vineyards, which lies on the right of the autopista as you drive north from Haro and covers about 54 acres.  They have reduced the proportion of Tempranillo vines slightly over the years in favor of the Mazuelo and some Graciano grapes.  The grapes that the Bodega purchases are mainly over 30 years of age and from the same sources year in and year out in the Rioja Alta.  The wines are fermented in wooden vats, each holding around 4,700 gallons of wine.  After the initial fermentation the wine is racked into clean vats for its malolactic fermentation.  As the wine is being drawn off a bunch of dried vine twigs is held under the tap, this is about as ancient a form of filtration as we have ever seen.  The wines are then left to rest in these large wooden vats for about a year. 

The buoyant Isaac Muga is a true entertainer, during a visit to the winery in 1994 we had an opportunity to have dinner in the cellars of Muga.  The dinner table in the cellar has a large centerpiece that spun around in the middle and we sat as Isaac spun the inside of the table around tempting us with delicacies like calf brains and tripe, but the most memorable part of the evening was when he went around the table asking each of us our birth year and then proceeded to go into the cellar to find a bottle of wine from that year.  Some of those older vintage Rioja’s were spectacular!

Muga produces a wide range of wines, three red Rioja’s a white wine made almost entirely from the Viura grape, a rose, and a small amount of sparkling wine made in the method champanoise style.  The Reserva by law has to be aged a minimum of one year in the barrel and at least two years in the bottle to be released on the fourth year after the harvest. Muga ages this Reserva three years in barrel and one year in the bottle before release. 

All the Bodegas Muga wines in the store on SALE!!

2016 MUGA CONDE DE HARO BRUT RESERVA ROSE
Price: $33.00                   Your Price: $29.04              Quantity in Stock: 4
The sparkling rosé now carries the vintage on the label (thanks for listening!), and I tasted the 2016 Conde de Haro Brut Rosé, produced with Garnacha grapes from Najerilla/Cordovín. It fermented at low temperature to keep the primary aromas of the variety and was kept with lees for four months, hoping the wine would put on some more weight before putting it to referment in bottle, where it was kept with lees for 36 months, always keeping it at low temperature, which produces smaller bubbles. It's pale and subtle and has more yeasty/toasty/leesy notes than the white, having had more time in contact with the lees in bottle. It's elegant, and within its young profile, it has some complexity and reveals nuances of red fruit and spices. The palate is terribly tasty, dry and with some chalky feelings; it's clean, long and persistent, really very good, the finest I have tasted to date. 25,560 bottles produced. The next vintage of this wine will be 2018. In 2017, with the short crop, they used the grapes for the still rosé. 91 PTS Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2022 MUGA ROSADO RIOJA
Price: $18.00                   Your Price: $15.84
This vintage was hallmarked by generous rainfall, which meant that the vines practically never stopped growing throughout the cycle. As a result, the canopy development was a key factor and conditioned the organoleptic features of the wine, in particular its aromas and acidity. The grapes’ natural acidity was enhanced, especially the malic acid, leading to typical “green apple”, Granny Smith-type descriptions of the aromas, and fruits at just the right point of ripeness, such as cherries, peaches, pineapple and citrus fruits. At the start of the vinification process we found that the acidity, a positive aspect on the nose, was excessively dominant on the palate. We had to wait a few months until the wine’s natural evolution smoothed off its sharp edges. On the one hand, the winter cold precipitated out part of the natural acids and on the other, the role played by the fine lees wrapped these sharp edges in a silky mantle. It is a vintage which repaid our patience and the skilled work in the selection of the grapes and work on the lees inside the winery. The result is a wine with shades of salmon-pink evolving towards bright copper in the bulb. With the glass held still, the fruit comes to the fore with a rich range of nuances: cherry, apple, peach, pineapple and even white blossom and fennel, not found very often in this wine. And not forgetting the omnipresent pastry shop aroma produced by the fine lees. On the palate the three-way relationship of bitter-acid-sweet flavours makes the tasting a true joy, intense and long, very long… leaving excellent sensations in the aftertaste which make you want to come back for more. We end with a retronasal stage in which the notes described above are reversed, with the white blossom and fennel becoming dominant.

2022 BODEGAS MUGA 'FLOR DE MUGA' ROSADO, RIOJA DOCA, SPAIN
Price: $37.50                   Your Price: $33.00
Bright, pale-pink colour. High degree of complexity and intensity on the nose, with aromas of red-berry fruit, stone fruit (peach, apricot), white blossom and citrus fruit – all very typical characteristics of the Garnacha Tinta variety. You can also detect a subtle, spicy note (vanilla, cinnamon) produced by its vinification and ageing in small oak vats. On the palate it is very elegant and well-balanced. It has marked acidity which brings it length and liveliness. Again the fruit notes appear in the mouth, especially apricot. The finish is very long and fresh, with very smooth tannin which provides backbone to convert it into a very gastronomic wine.

2022 BODEGAS MUGA BLANCO FERMENTADO EN BARRICA, RIOJA DOCA,
Price: $21.00                   Your Price: $18.48
The 2022 vintage of Muga Blanco has a lovely straw-yellow colour. On the nose it reveals itself to be a complex wine, with citrus notes, such as lemon, lemon cake, floral aromas (white blossom) and stone fruit (peach), with even hints of vanilla.
On the palate, it stands out for its well-balanced acidity. This is a powerful wine in which the floral, citrus and stone fruit notes reappear in a very long finish.

2019 BODEGAS MUGA 'FLOR DE MUGA' BLANCO, RIOJA DOCA, SPAIN
Price: $50.00                   Your Price: $44.00
Like they did with the Rosado a few years ago, there is now a top-of-the-range white. The 2019 Flor de Muga Blanco was produced with a blend of 40% Viura from red limestone and clay soils, 30% Garnacha Blanca from classical clay and limestone and 30% Maturana Blanca planted on sandy soils. They selected the free run must after a short maceration in the press and fermented it in small oak vats (there's no stainless steel at Muga) at low temperature. The wine was then kept with fine lees in concrete eggs for three months, during which time they expected it to fix aromas and provide some volume, and then it was aged in lightly toasted new French oak barrels for six months. The wine has been kept in bottle for 18 months. 94pts Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2019 BODEGAS MUGA 'EL ANDEN DE LA ESTACION' CRIANZA, RIOJA DOCA,
Price: $21.00                   Your Price: $18.48
(92 Points) The 2019 El Andén de la Estación is a new red that takes advantage of the Barrio de la Estación, the train station neighborhood of Haro. It's a Crianza with less extraction, looking for the elegance and finesse of the classical Rioja wines. It's a blend of Tempranillo from their younger vines and Garnacha (that they buy) that matured in French and European barrels for 14 months. It's a quaffable red with lots of Garnacha character (it might represent up to 30% of the blend, by far the highest in Garnacha from the portfolio). It's floral, juicy and expressive, very open and approachable. This is delicious and still quite complex.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2019 MUGA RIOJA RESERVA
Price: $35.25                   Your Price: $31.02
This 2019 reserva wine has a bright, ruby-red colour, with medium depth and a garnet tinged rim.
On the nose it proves to be a wine which is complex in aroma, in which primary aromas of fruit such as blueberries are enhanced by spicy nuances.
On the palate it is long, balanced and elegant, with perfectly integrated acidity and smooth tannins. The finish is very long and fruity.
Perfect to be drunk now but thanks to its great balance and structure it can be kept in the bottle for several more years.

2019 MUGA RESERVA SELECCION ESPECIAL RIOJA
Price: $51.00                   Your Price: $44.88
This Muga Selección Especial 2019 wine has a rich, deep, black cherry colour and robe.
A highly intense nose, in which notes of ripe fruit such as blackberries appear, complemented by spicy aromas of clove and vanilla coming through, giving a lot of complexity.
On the palate it has a marked, well-integrated acidity, well-polished tannins and medium body. Very silky and elegant, with ripe fruit notes reappearing with hints of well-integrated wood. Very long and balanced.
A Reserva whose good acidity and tannin suggest great ageing potential.

2016 MUGA RIOJA PRADO ENEA GRAN RISERVA
Price: $117.00                 Your Price: $102.96
Prado Enea Gran Reserva 2016 has a black- cherry colour with medium depth. On the nose we find an elegant collection of forest fruit (blackberries) with spices like cloves and cinnamon. It has a silky-smooth attack with medium body and a very long, pleasant passage through the mouth.We find velvety tannins in perfect harmony with its fresh and well-integrated acidity. You can also find creamy and vanilla notes mingling with fresh fruit.

2006 MUGA RIOJA PRADO ENEA GRAN RISERVA
Price: $120.00                 Your Price: $105.60              Quantity in Stock: 3
Just a bit of evolution here with aromas of dried meats, herbs and black licorice, the frist reserva they did and this was named after the original house, lovely complexity here on the nose PH higher because of the calcarious soils grenache and Graciano in the blend also.   A big wine but very elegant and long finish fresh and layered with a firm hand of acidity.  Finish 50+  Most Excellent

1991 MUGA RIOJA GRAN RISERVA PRADO ENEA
Price: $295.00                 Sale Price: $245.00              Quantity in Stock: 10
(93 Points) he 1991 Prado Enea Grand Reserva has a very elegant bouquet of lifted red currant, wild strawberry, mint and leather that is very well-defined and youthful. The palate is medium-bodied with supple, firm tannins and a complex array of flavors: licorice, sage, leather and mulberry fruit. It has very good weight although it has another 15 to 20 years upon its drinking plateau Wine Advocate

2019 BODEGAS MUGA TORRE MUGA, RIOJA DOCA
Price: $157.50                 Your Price: $138.60
Tempranillo 75%, Mazuelo 15%, Graciano 10%
The dense legs that this wine reveals are a sign of its enormous elegance. The purple-coloured hues around the rim reflect its youth.On the nose you find black fruit aromas at the peak of ripeness, spicy black pepper aromas and woodland herbs. Balsamic herb nuances appear with rosemary and some smoky notes from the ageing in top class oak casks, creating a harmony and balance which cannot be matched. In the mouth we can find the juicy, elegant tannins with a nice sharp acidity to balance the palate. Hints of liquorice and the pepper return. A very persistent, elegant, enjoyable and approachable wine.

2011 BODEGAS MUGA TORRE MUGA, RIOJA DOCA
Price: $170.00                 Your Price: $149.60              Quantity in Stock: 3
(95 Points) The Mugas are happy with the 2011 harvest. The 2011 Torre Muga is a dark-colored, almost opaque, ripe and concentrated effort. (It contains the Tempranillo that would normally be part of the Aro, and was not produced because they didn't get the Graciano they needed.) They are selling this very young (but still, it will not be released until around September 2015). It is quite heady with aromas of ripe plums, spices, lead pencil, ink and well-integrated oak. The palate is full-bodied, round and lush with plenty of dense and concentrated tannins that feel very young. If you have in mind the Torre Muga from the beginning, this has a lot less oak and is less extracted; it has much better balance. As usual, it's a blend of Tempranillo, Graciano, Mazuelo and others, from a very cold zone close to the Oja-Tirón rivers, which might explain why this wine is so fresh in such warm vintage. There will be no Torre Muga in 2012 or 2013, and possibly very little 2014. So stock up on this if you want a wine like it, because it will keep and develop well in bottle.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate