2019 Rioja Aro

The 2019 Aro is a blend of 70% Tempranillo and 30% Graciano sourced from Rioja Alta and aged for 18 months in new French oak barrels. Dark garnet in color, the nose offers notes of cigar box and cedar, accompanied by plum marmalade and herbal aromas over a vanilla layer. On the palate, it is dry, fairly rich and concentrated, with a juicy and compact flow that stirs the substantial mouthfeel. The 2019 offers a flavorful, complex, high-impact Rioja experience, delivering a more New World approach to Muga's wines while still retaining the heightened core that makes them so delightful. 

- Joaquín Hidalgo (12/2023)

Blueberries, cassis, black pepper, nutmeg and some mahogany here. Salted plums, slate, tobacco leaves and lead-pencil shavings, too. Wow. It’s full-bodied, intense and so well integrated and polished with seamless tannins. Powerful, yet elegant at the same time. 70% tempranillo and 30% graciano. 5,800 bottles only. Try this from 2027. (05/2023)

Pure magic, the 2019 Aro is 70% Tempranillo and 30% Graciano from a plant by plant selection of the Muga family's oldest vines of Tempranillo, blended with a substantial portion of Graciano. This dense purple behemoth has a primordial bouquet of pure cassis, graphite, crushed stone, lead pencil, new leather, and hints of spring flowers. Building incrementally on the palate, with full-bodied richness, a huge mid-palate, and ripe, velvety tannins, this is one heavenly Rioja that deserves 7-8 years of bottle age and will age like a First Growth from Bordeaux. Hats off to the team at Muga for another incredible wine. (06/2022)

A muscular red in a sleek, limber frame, this offers saturated black currant and black cherry fruit flavors, with exotic spice and espresso notes expressing themselves in a modern style. Yet there's undeniable purity, with racy acidity focusing the tightly meshed flavors and dense, chalky tannins. Hints of violet, thyme, iron and spice play on the lasting finish. Tempranillo and Graciano. Best from 2024 through 2034. 430 cases made, 50 cases imported. 

- Alison Napjus (10/2022)

No 2017 or 2018 were produced of this luxury cuvée made with up to 30% Graciano to complement the Tempranillo from the villages of Labastida, Briñas and Villalba, so from the impressive 2016 I tasted in June 2019, we jumped to the 2019 Aro. The destemmed grapes went through optical sorting and fermented in small oak vats with indigenous yeasts followed by malolactic in new barrels, where the wine matured for 16 months. It's not a shy wine at 14.6% alcohol, and the Graciano provides extra acidity and vibrancy. It has great balance and a spark of acidity and is a very complete wine, with great aromatics and integrated oak (all new barrels, but better integrated than ever); it has the ripeness of Graciano, which ripens with low yields and only ripens thoroughly in given vintages, and they had to skip warm years like 2011 when some varieties like Graciano and Mazuelo didn't behave well. This is the finest Aro so far. 5,800 bottles were filled in July 2021. 

- Luis Gutiérrez (07/2022)