This Gran Reserva Prado Enea displays an attractive, deep, dense cherry-red color. The nose is immediately expressive and reveals seductive, complex aromas that are at the same time delicate and elegant. Subtle notes of creamy oak mingle with a wide range of red berry and black forest fruits together with notes of licorice and toast. The entry on the palate is gentle, followed by a medium-body with a silky, fleshy, round texture balanced by lovely freshness. With its ripe, polished tannins and good acidity, this Gran Reserva can be enjoyed today but should age beautifully over several years.

Really beautiful aromas of crushed blackberry, brambleberry, hazelnut, walnut and light coffee, following through to a full yet so reserved and polished body with fine, creamy-textured tannins. Fresh and exquisite finish. This is a much more refined and harmonic rendition of their classic wine. Three years in French oak from their own production. Very enjoyable now, but this will improve with age for a long time.

The Muga family got its start as winegrowers in Villalba, in the eastern mountains of Rioja Alta, where they still tend small parcels that provide some of their top selections, including Prado Enea. This wine ferments in large oak vats without added yeasts, then ages in mostly French oak barrels. Once bottled, it rests at least three years at the winery before release. Now seven years old, the wine’s luminous color seems to infuse its flavors, emphasizing mountain freshness rather than any overt acidity. Its red-fruit intensities range from boysenberry to cherry and cherry tomato, all of it layered into a texture that’s supple and complex.