Bodegas Muga Rioja Reserva 2004

BN#229872

Bright ruby red wine with medium intensity of colour, giving an impression of liveliness and excellent evolution in the bottle. Perhaps what most defines this vintage is the wine’s aroma, with a floral character which almost smothers the fruit, something quite typical in Atlantic-climate wines. Even before coming to the tertiary aromas, we experience faint hints of freshly mown hay. Then finally the ageing nuances obtained from its time in oak begin to come through: fresh vanilla, coconut, and faint but elegant hints of lightly smoked and toasted wood. All this diversity can still be found, not fully integrated, as is to be expected in a wine of this type and this age. In the mouth it is firm, with good backbone and, after a passing impression of acidity, which hints at its excellent ageing potential, the mineral component takes over and spreads through the mouth in both space and time. Finally there is a mouth-enveloping sensation of soft tannins which leaves a pleasant reminder of its passing. In the retronasal phase the floral component gives way to ripe, red-berry fruit and, especially, spices, with fresh vanilla to the fore.