Muga - Rioja Torre Muga 2020

Torre Muga was first released in 1991 by Manolo Muga and Isacín Muga, who wanted to produce a Bordeaux style wine from old, low yielding vineyards of Tempranillo, Graciano, and Manuela planted in the village of Villalba de Rioja, the family's hometown. The wine was the first wine produced at Muga that was aged entirely in new French barrique.

Estate vineyards (65%) and vineyards leased on long term contracts, with viticulture controlled by the winery, in the foothills of the Montes Obarenes and the Sierra Cantabria, spread between the villages of Villalba de Rioja and Labastida. Calcareous-clay and alluvial soils. 

Traditional viticulture of Rioja Alta. Proprietary head trained and trellised vineyards planted in high altitude areas of Rioja Alta. Organic, uncertified. The grapes for Torre Muga are selected from the coolest climate growing regions in Rioja Alta. These zones, near the Oja-Tiron rivers, are the last to fully ripen in Rioja Alta.

Maceration, once alcoholic fermentation is complete, is variable in length and may go on for 2 or 3 weeks. Aged for 16-18 months in new French oak casks sourced from the department of Allier and Troncáis. Before bottling the wine is lightly fined using fresh egg white.

"Lastly, the 2020 Torre Muga just about jumps out of the glass with its complex red and black fruits, savory flowers, tobacco, lead pencil shavings, and graphite-like aromatics. Plush, full-bodied, concentrated, and beautifully balanced, it shows the softer, more rounded style of the vintage and has ripe tannins and a great finish." - 97 Points, Jeb Dunnuck

"Torre Muga is the top wine among the current releases from this Haro-based bodega, right up there with the best bottlings of this avowedly modern blend of Tempranillo with 10% each of Mazuelo and Graciano. A Rioja with a French accent, as it were, it has coffee bean oak, violet and green herb aromas, granular tannins, blackberry and bramble fruit and the structure to age in bottle." - 98 Points, Tim Atkin

"Torre is a bolder, more concentrated expression of Rioja from Muga. Meaty and tarry nose with smoked bacon. Lots of grilled herbs and some dark sweet spices. Powerful, broad and full-bodied on the palate with lots of vertical, dusty tannins that lead you towards the long, juicy finish. Tempranillo, mazuelo and graciano. Better from 2025." - 96 Points, James Suckling

"The more modern wine in the portfolio is the 2020 Torre Muga, which has notes of toast, smoke, sesame seeds, smoky bacon, spices, herbs and ripe berries. It is a wine they started producing in 1991, and the change in style also influenced the quality approach and selection of vineyards, grapes and oak for the barrels that they later applied to other wines. It has a polished palate with very fine tannins, chalky and elegant. It's a more approachable vintage, round, velvety and soft, though perhaps without the aging potential of 2021, but it’s very pleasant. It's long. They didn't bottle the 2020 from Aro, so some of those grapes might have finished in this bottle." - 95 Points, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Producer: Muga 

Country: Spain

Region: La Rioja

Varietal: Tempranillo, Graciano, Mazuelo

Appellation: Rioja

Vintage: 2020

Size: 750ml