Bodegas Muga 2015 Rioja Reserva

Bodegas Muga is one of the oldest and most traditional producers in Rioja. The winery was founded in 1932 by Isaac Muga Martínez who originated from a family with strong ties to the winemaking industry. On the death of the founder in 1969, his children Manuel, Isabel and Isaac Muga Caño took over the reins. Over the years as Bodegas Muga has gained worldwide recognition for its outstanding wines. It holds on to the spirit of a family-run company as they carefully control every step of the viticultural and vinification process from the vineyards to making their own barrels and fermenting and aging the wine entirely in oak.

Muga is one of only six estates in the world that does their own cooperage.  importing the oak wood directly from the United States and France.

This Reserva, which they bottle without filtration after egg white fining is a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha, 7% Mazuelo, 3% Graciano. It aged 24 months in barrels.

The Wine Advocate scored this 92 points saying "The 2015 Reserva had just been bottled, and it should be released around January 2019 in the international market and in Spain (as Crianza) in October 2018. This was a very long harvest (similar to 2016). They started at the end of August with the Cava, and they finished at the end of October with very healthy grapes, good yields and very good quality. The wine shows very good ripeness but without any excess. It has incipient complexity, still young and undeveloped but with very good balance between power and elegance, with fine-grained tannins and integrated acidity. This has to be one of the best recent vintages of this popular bottling. There are around one million bottles of it."

James Suckling scored it 94 points saying "Complex nose with ripe black cherries, deeply integrated cedary oak, baking spices, dried flowers, leather, fresh tobacco and earthy notes. This is silky and mellow with long, laid-back tannins that deliver ripe dark plum flavors into a spicy and earthy finish."

Jeb Dunnuck scored it 94 points saying "Jeb Dunnuck scored this 94 points saying "One of the flagship cuvées from this estate that’s produced in every vintage, the 2015 Reserva is a blend of 70% Tempranillo and the rest Garnacha, Mazuelo, and Graciano that spent 24 months in used French and American oak. Blackberries, currants, cigar wrapper, cedar box, and hints of vanilla all flow to a medium-bodied, concentrated, beautiful Rioja that has ripe tannins, beautiful balance, and a great finish. You couldn't go wrong with a case of this"