2004 Prado Enea, Gran Reserva, Bodegas Muga, Rioja

2004 Prado Enea, Gran Reserva, Bodegas Muga, Rioja

Product: 20048008466
Prices start from £349.00 per case Buying options
2004 Prado Enea, Gran Reserva, Bodegas Muga, Rioja

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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6 x 75cl bottle
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Description

Along with 2001, 2004 is proving itself as a great recent Rioja vintage, an excellent backdrop for the famous Prado Enea Gran Reserva. Made from 80% Tempranillo, 7% of both Garnacha and Mazuelo and 6% Graciano, the wine has already enjoyed 12 months in vat, three years in barrel and another 36 months in bottle, bringing us pretty much up to date. Garnet to blood red of hue, the wine is savoury, fat and indulgent, with a whiff of gentle decay which is far from unattractive, drawing the taster into a den of tobacco and leathery sapidity. The wine finishes strongly with firm acidity and a baroque crescendo.
Simon Field MW, Fine Wine Buyer

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate96/100
I revisited the 2004 Prado Enea Gran Reserva, as they hold small quantities of older vintages that are sold mostly to restaurants. I was really surprised by the slow development of this vintage in bottle, which is still young and with an incredible aging potential. The aromas are only starting to develop some tertiary characteristics while still showing a fruit side, and the spices are slowly increasing but the pace is really slow. The palate has concentration and depth, clean and focused flavors and great length, with outstanding overall balance and harmony. I think this is a more classical vintage than the 2005 I ended up tasting next to it, which can be a little more modern. At that time, they were producing some 150,000 bottles of Prado Enea.
Luis Gutirrez - 28/02/2018 Read more

About this WINE

Bodegas Muga

Bodegas Muga

Traditional Rioja, quite naturally enough, has a great following at Berry Bros. & Rudd; the synergy of values and history is self-evident and the wines, of both colours, are to my mind some of the most distinctive and under-rated in Europe. When one visits the area around the old railway station at Haro, one is overwhelmed by the role-call of great names, all located in close proximity to one another, all famous names... with Tondonia, la Rioja Alta, CVNE all stalwarts of the Berry Bros. & Rudd list. The other famous name, hitherto absent from our catalogue, and only, in all probability, to avoid the embarrassment of such riches, is Muga. Tasting the wines recently, we decided that Muga were every bit as good as the others and so we now complete the Haro jigsaw by proudly purchasing them for the first time.

Bodega Muga was founded in Haro in 1932 and is still in family ownership; the company farms 250 hectares in La Rioja Alta and in addition has long-standing contracts with the owners of another 150 hectares. Located in the foothills of the Montes Obarenses, the five principle vineyards (El Estepal, La Loma, Blatracones, La Loma Alta, and Sajazarra) share clay and limestone soils, each with its own unique microclimate, informed by the happy coincidence of continental, Mediterranean and Atlantic influences. The extended Muga family controls all aspects of the production and advocates the complexity afforded by the entire canon of grapes, that is to say Tempranillo, of course for the red, but also Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano in addition to Viura and Malvasia for the whites.

The key to everything here is wood, from the magnificent 18th century wooden Bodega to the impressive collection of 14,000 barrels used for the maturation. In addition the wines are fermented in large wooden casks, of which there were 90, all of subtly differing sizes, at the last count. An in-house Cooperage employs three experts full time in addition to a ‘Cubero’, a specialist who makes and maintains the large casks. It should come as no surprise that vinification is traditional with racking every four months and clarification with egg-whites. The residual egg-whites, together with the discarded lees go to make up a high quality compost, which serves as an organically sustainable fertiliser. And so the whole process resumes, nourishing itself as it will surely nourish those who sample their most impressive range.

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Best of BBX: Rioja

Best of BBX: Rioja

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Tempranillo/Tinto Fino

Tempranillo/Tinto Fino

A high quality red wine grape that is grown all over Spain except in the hot South - it is known as Tinto Fino in Ribera del Duero, Cencibel in La Mancha and Valdepenas and Ull de Llebre in Catalonia. Its spiritual home is in Rioja and Navarra where it constitutes around 70% of most red blends.

Tempranillo-based wines tend to have a spicy, herbal, tobacco-like character accompanied by ripe strawberry and red cherry fruits. It produces fresh, vibrantly fruit driven "jovenes" meant for drinking young. However Tempranillo really comes into its own when oak aged, as with the top Riojas  where its flavours seem to harmonise perfectly with both French and American oak, producing rich, powerful and concentrated wines which can be extraordinarily long-lived.

In Ribera del Duero it generally sees less oak - the exception being Vega Sicilia where it is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and then aged for an astonishing 7 years in oak and is unquestionably one of the world`s greatest wines.

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