95pts Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2005 Prado Enea Gran Reserva, which seems to be evolving at a glacial pace. It does have a much more developed nose than the rest of the wines. It's a lot more tertiary, with notes of truffles and forest floor, smoky and spicy with a touch of cured meat, iodine and brick dust. It's full-bodied with an earthy touch.

95pts Vinous

The 2005 Gran Reserva Prado Enea is a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano. This aged for 36 months in French and American oak. Having evolved greater complexity, it delivers aromas of undergrowth, dried herbs, Maraschino cherry, quince and dried fig. Silky and fresh on the palate, with fine tannins and elegantly aged flavors, this is subtle, dry and quietly persistent. In a large glass this reveals hints of mushroom and truffle—hallmarks of the extended bottle age that deepen its character. 

94pts Decanter

Showing beautiful, balanced development two decades on, with enduring vibrancy on the palate and a mineral quality to the tannic framework.The juicy blueberry, bramble and mulberry fruit is heavily but elegantly cloaked in tobacco leaves, dried rose petals, mushrooms, black olives and chestnuts. Fragrant wet soil notes lift the nuances of mountain herbs, and it has a very long finish with lingering sweet spice and poached plums. 80% Tempranillo with Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano, picked late then native-yeast fermented in 10,000-litre oak vats with no temperature control; the wine was aged in 16,000-litre oak vats for 12 months, then minimum 36 months in oak casks and minimum 36 months in the bottle.

94pts Int'l Wine Review

The 2005 ‘Prado Enea’ is absolutely striking, bursting with dried cherries and plums, which are followed by exotic spices, licorice, orange zest, dried floral and vanilla. There is a symphony of balance and structure along with a beautiful silky texture, which all work together to make up this sensational Rioja. The finish is long and polished, leaving behind a mouthful of juicy cherries lingering. Composed of 80% Tempranillo, with Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano added. It was aged in large oak vats for 16 months, followed by another 36 months in small oak barrels and another 3 years in bottle before its release. This is already offering so much and drinking incredible right now, there is no need to wait any longer, however for those with patience this also shows wonderful ageing potential as well. This is an incredible value from a flagship Bodega in Rioja.

94pts James Suckling

Big and rich style with so much ripe fruit and toasted oak. Meat. Punchy. Drink or hold, but a long life ahead.

94pts Int'l Wine Cellar

Heady, mineral-tinged red fruit and rose scents are complemented by star anise, vanilla and woodsmoke. Supple, seamless and concentrated, offering intense raspberry, cherry and rose pastille flavors underscored by zesty minerality. Shows uncommon finesse for its power and finishes sweet, focused and extremely long. For the money, this is a crazy value.

Jancis Robinson

Chocolate, black fruit, poised and broad; has the physique of a boxer but the balance of an acrobat. Traditional Rioja flavours with serious structure.

Winemaker Notes

The wine displays a very pure, bright, polished ruby-red color. In this 2005 vintage we leave behind the ripe fruit aromas of the previous year and instead find clearly distinctive woodland berries: blueberries, sloes, wild berries and even hints of blackberries. These are wrapped in aromas of finely mingling heathland herbs, in very subtle glimpses. The spicy oakiness is barely perceptible because the hints of cloves, coconut and vanilla are so very well integrated in the bouquet. The attack is powerful and unctuous, and in just a few seconds we have an intense, lasting feeling of plenitude. However, neither of these is the wine's most surprising phase. There is a presence of acidity, but a pleasant one, with sweet, smooth tannins and an infinite mineral quality. In the aftertaste the order of the descriptors is reversed, with the mountain herbs coming to the fore, perhaps with subtly different nuances, such as fennel, dill and hillside tea. Just as it begins to fade, the fine oak notes make a reappearance.

Winery Notes

Bodegas Muga is a family firm founded in 1932 by Isaac Muga and Aurora Caño. The first wines were made in an underground cellar, until in 1968 they decided to set up their own winery in a beautiful old 19th-century town-house situated in the city of Haro. The Bodegas Muga outstanding feature is that it always uses the finest materials, combining tradition with the latest advances in winemaking so as always to give its wines the very best quality without losing authenticity. Indeed, it is the only wine cellar in Spain which employs its own master cooper and coopers, who make all the vats for the cellar as well as the oak casks. The winery remains true to traditional winemaking methods such as racking the casks by gravity and fining the wine with fresh egg whites. Bodegas Muga has succeeded in combining the purest family tradition with an updated vision of the future which has allowed them to preserve their own personality and character.