Bodegas Muga "Prado Enea" Gran Reserva Rioja 2016
(Rioja, Spain) - [WA 97+] [JS 97] [WE 97] [JD 97] [VM 96] [TA 96] [DM 96] [WS 94]

About the Winery:
Bodegas Muga is Rioja Alta’s premier producer and the Muga family are unanimously considered to be one of Spain’s most important winemaking families. The winery has practically legendary status due to its philosophy revolving around adherence to tradition, dynamism, and winemaking of the highest quality. Few producers in the world fashion wines that have such a sense of tradition and place as Muga’s. The wines of Muga have an absolutely distinct, unique, and inimitable profile.

Grapes Varieties: 80% Tempranillo, 20% Grenache, Mazuelo (Carignan) and Graciano.

Tasting Notes:
This Gran Reserva Prado Enea displays an attractive, deep, dense cherry-red colour. A stylish nose of black fruits mingling with spices, gingerbread and liquorice. The soft, supple entry on the palate leads to a sensation of gentle power and air-light volume underpinned by cashmere silky tannins, harmoniously balanced by fresh acidity. Creamy, vanilla notes come through in the finish with ripe fruit. This wine is tempting to drink now, but it will age well for years.

Food Pairing:
This wine pairs well with casseroles, meat dishes, fish and cheese; and it can even be enjoyed on its own, without any accompaniment.

Vinification:
Vines planted between 1930-1975 on calcareous clay and alluvial soil with an altitude ranging between 550 and 600 metres. Traditional Rioja viticulture that is sustainable and organic, but not certified. The vineyards are dry-farmed and are farmed without the use of harmful chemically synthesized fungicides, pesticides or herbicides. The vineyards for Prado Enea are always the latest vineyards to be harvested by the winery.

Hand-harvested and transported to the winery in crates to protect the grapes from bruising and crushing. The berries are destemmed and optically sorted, but not crushed. Fermentation is started by pied de cuve and carried out in 10,000L (without temperature control) oak vats of varying sizes that are produced on the premises at Bodegas Muga. Malolactic is delayed until late Spring by cooling the cellars with ambient air. Malolactic is spontaneous and takes place in the fermentation vessel. Aged a minimum of 36 months at the winery in barrels and vats of varying sizes and age, ranging from 225L barrique to 16,000L oak vat, all coopered on the premises. Oak is a blend of French (80%) and American (20%). The wine is aged in bottle for a minimum of 36 months before release once bottled.

Ratings & Reviews

97+ Points - Wine Advocate:
"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. It was an exceptional year with volume and quality." – Luis Gutierrez (Feb 2024)

97 Points - James Suckling:
"Complex aromas of dark fruit with violets, walnuts and chocolate. Classy. It's full-bodied with plush yet fine velvety tannins, and a precise and pointed finish. Juicy and savory. Tight finish. It's very long. This is beautiful now but will be even better in three or four years. Linear and vertical at the same time. Try after 2026." (Aug 2023)

97 Points - Wine Enthusiast:
"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." - Mike DeSimone (July 2024)

97 Points - Jeb Dunnuck:
"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. (Drink between 2024-2044)" -Jeb Dunnuck (Jul 2024)

96 Points - Vinous Media:
"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 for Prado Enea lovers, it remains absolutely delicious." – Joaquin Hidalgo (Apr 2024)

96 Points - Tim Atkin, MW:
"A judicious blend of Tempranillo with 20% Garnacha and 3% Mazuelo, aged in French and 20% American wood, this is engagingly aromatic, with sweet spice and garrigue top notes, red berry and black cherry flavours and detailed, fine-grained tannins. 2025-42." (Feb 2024)

96 Points - Decanter:
"A classic gran reserva with an elegant profile and subtle evolution. It still offers delicious raspberry and red berry fruit, slightly jammy but in the best sense of the word. Tannins are soft and round, and the oak is now perfectly integrated. Quite spicy on the finish, it is still lively with lots of life ahead. Sourced from fairly high vineyards, at 550m-600m, in three villages in the northwest corner of Rioja Alta, Tempranillo and Garnacha with Mazuelo and Graciano were fermented in oak vats, with 14-16 days of maceration, followed by a minimum of 36 months' ageing in French and American oak casks. After light fining, the wine was bottled and remained in the cellar for at least a further 36 months before release." -Beth Willard (Mar 2025)

94 Points - Wine Spectator:
"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." -Alison Napjus (Jul 2024)

18/20 Points - Jancis Robinson:
"Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano. The grapes for Prado Enea are always the last to be harvested. The highest-elevation parcels are selected in the Muga area, from the north-west of Rioja Alta (Sáenzarra, Cellorigo and Fonzaleche). A minimum ageing of 36 months in French and American oak barrels. Fined with fresh egg whites. Tasted blind. Smoky notes, concentrated stewed cherry, a fine menthol touch and cocoa powder. Very generous in fruit concentration, beautifully balanced with silky, high-quality tannins. Delicate notes of Pu-erh tea on the back palate lend an elegant, lingering finish. Prado Enea is as good as ever – an exceptional, classic wine and a true benchmark you can always rely on. When to Drink: 2025-2040."