The winery’s flagship, the wine that introduced Muga to the world, the 2021 Muga Reserva is Tempranillo-dominant, with Garnacha, Mazuelo, and Graciano filling in the gaps. A larger-production wine, it offers tremendous quality, fermented in wooden vats using indigenous yeasts, the grapes separated by quality, soil type, and village origin. This one in particular is from a beautiful vintage and practically beams in full-bodied concentration, with supple, silky tannins and light touches of oak spice, cedar, balsamic, and white pepper. A new release, it should continue to thrive another 15-20 years. - Virginie Boone

The grapes for the 2021 Reserva (sold as Crianza in Spain), mostly Tempranillo with some Garnacha Tinta, Mazuelo and Graciano, were picked late in a cooler year when they finished the harvest the 20th of October, with plenty of times for the grapes to develop full aromas and flavors and complete ripeness. It fermented destemmed and lightly crushed in oak vats with indigenous yeasts, separating qualities, villages and soils, and matured in 80% French and 20% American oak barrels, 20% of them new, for 24 months, with racking every eight to nine months. It's a textbook example of their style in a very good year, with power, concentration and clout, elegance and freshness. It was a very harmonious year; the cycle was long and the tannins ripened to perfection. It's terrific and more so for the volume they produce (984,000 bottles of it). It was fined with egg whites and bottled in January 2024. - Luis Gutierrez

A plush yet fresh Rioja showing blackberries, dark plums, fine spices, cocoa powder and a touch of roasted red chile peppers. Medium- to full-bodied and juicy, with firm, fine-grained tannins and a long, bright finish showing some graphite, blackberries and dark chocolate. Tempranillo, garnacha, graciano and mazuelo. Drink now or hold.

The 2021 Reserva Muga, from Rioja Alta, is a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha Tinta, Mazuelo and Graciano. This aged for 24 months in barrels. The complex, balanced nose offers sour cherry, black cherry, balsamic notes and undergrowth with the oak providing an unobtrusive frame. Dry, with fine, slightly chalky tannins and a juicy core, the long finish is fruit-forward with delicate nuances from the aging process.

This is fresh and minerally up front, opening to reveal a fine mesh of chopped cherry and plum skin flavors, with fragrant hints of ground coffee, smoked paprika and dried marjoram. Sculpted tannins define the long, slightly chewy finish. Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano. Drink now through 2035. - AN