70% Tempranillo, 30% Graciano.
"I was gladly surprised to find that Muga had produced and just bottled a 2015 Aro, which will not be released until the end of 2018. This is always powerful and concentrated, a selection and blending exercise of individual plants from select vineyards, healthier vines, those that produced smaller bunches, and so on. Since the first harvest of Aro in the year 2000, they have bought more old vineyards, so they applied the same exercise to these new vineyards, which are planted with massal selections. They focus on Graciano and Tempranillo, and they ferment and age these grapes separately. Only in exceptional vintages do they decide to bottle this Aro. It's produced in a similar way as Torre Muga, fermentation by plot in small oak vats (some as small as 1,000 kilograms!), the difference is the grape selection. It aged in brand new French oak barriques selected by the grain of the wood. They look for very small grain (which means slow growing of the oak trees). It started off quite closed, but the first impression was of a very good wine, still very young and still a little marked by the élevage, with some oak notes emerging after the wine had been in the glass for a while. There is almost 30% Graciano in this blend, with the rest Tempranillo. This is full-bodied with abundant, fine-grained tannins and very good balance. This will require some more time in bottle and should have a long life ahead. They filled some 5,600 bottles in September 2017.
Responsibility for whites and rosés has been transferred to Isaac Muga, while his brother Jorge makes all the reds. I tasted all the available whites and rosés to see what's going on. There is a new top of the range rosé, Flor de Muga, and they are also working to create a new white with mostly Viura, Garnacha Blanca and Maturana Blanca, aiming perhaps for the 2018 harvest. We had a long and relaxed tasting, and they reached for some older vintages when we were discussing vintage similarities, so I can offer you some opinions about the evolution of some past wines. One common worry in the region (and in a good part of Spain) was the loss of production in the 2017 harvest. When talking about this with the Muga family, they told me they lost some 60% of their grapes with the frost of 2017. Talking about the reds, the Prado Enea from 2010 could very well be one of the finest vintages of their classical, long-aging bottling. The Graciano-centric Aro is making a comeback with the 2015; it hadn't been produced since 2010. Two to buy and bury in the cellar...
" - Robert Parkers Wine Advocate
Bodegas Muga
Bodegas Muga ist eines der traditionellsten und höchstbewerteten Weingüter Spaniens und eine Legende in Rioja. Die komplette Weinbereitung findet ausschließlich in Holzfässern statt, alles ist handwerklich solide und auf höchstem Niveau. Von der Reserva bis zur Einzellage sind alle Weine individuell, regionaltypisch, stilsicher und auf höchstem Niveau. Torre Muga und Aro gehören zu den 10 besten spanischen Rotweinen. Die Muga Bodegas gilt mit ihrer Handwerksarbeit auf höchstem Niveau als legendär. Selbst die Trauben werden möglichst schonend, ohne mechanische Hilfe gelesen und transportiert!
