From a slightly more challenging year for the region, the 2020 Muga Selección Especial checks in as 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha, and the rest Graciano and Mazuelo that's aged six months in new French barrique, followed by two full years in older French and American (70/30) oak barriques. Rocking levels of cassis and black raspberry-like fruit as well as graphite, spicy wood, violets, and lead pencil notes all shine on the nose, and it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a round, layered mouthfeel, and silky tannins. It's already hard to resist.
95 points, Jeb Dunnuck (Jul 2024)
Their most gastronomical red is the 2020 Selección Especial, a blend of the four traditional varieties from Rioja—Tempranillo, Garnacha Tinta, Mazuelo and Graciano—fermented in oak vats. Half of the destemmed grapes were put through an optical sorting machine. The wine matured in French oak barrels, 40% of them new, for 26 months and was racked every eight to nine months. 2020 was a warm year, and the wine comes in at 14.5% alcohol, with a pH of 3.56 and 5.75 grams of acidity. Manu Muga likes 2020 very much and says it's a year that suffers because it's in between 2019 and 2021. This is also a textbook example of this wine, a little more developed and tertiary, with generous spice and toast and a palate with more grip. The tannins are not as precise and elegant as those from 2021 (yeah, it suffers in the comparison), but it's a very worthy wine. 246,120 bottles produced. It was bottled in April 2023 after being fined with egg whites.
94 points, Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (Feb 2025)
Mint, blackberries, cocoa powder, graphite, black pepper and roasted dark spices. Full-bodied and juicy, with lots of tannins that are quite sinewy and fine-grained. Really long. Needs at least two more years to come around. Tempranillo, garnacha, mazuelo and graciano. Drink after 2026.
94 points, Zekun Shuai, James Suckling (Aug 2024)
Hints of smoke, dark chocolate and loamy earth underscore a rich core of ripe black plum and mulberry fruit, with rose hip, iron and macchia notes. This is tightly meshed and fresh, opening nicely in the glass and showing good tension and chalky tannins on the well-spiced finish. Enjoy this today, but it should really shine with a little cellaring. Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano. Best from 2026 through 2034. 20,000 cases made, 6,000 cases imported.
93 points, Alison Napjus, Wine Spectator (Dec 2024)
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