Torre Muga 2004

Posted by Edmund in Other, Wine & Liquor | 0 comments

Torre Muga 2004
75% Tempranillo, 15% Mazuelo, 10% Graciano
Rioja, Spain
$70-$115 on Wine-searcher.

Great, intense ruby color. Purpling extremely. Also has some great legs.

Fantastic, strong, oak aroma. Smells like the bottom of a barrel. Has a bit of fruit in the nose too, and a bit of earth and dirt. Rather complex—fruit and oak, flowers, berries (esp. raspberry), and dirt). This wine definitely needs to be aired—just too intense.

The taste is kind of a mixed bag. The Muga has a strong tempranillo freshness, as expected. It’s very mature, but it retains the youth of the tempranillo. It is, however, somewhat on the bitter, very oaky side, though it does go down smoothly. Cherries and berries come through just slightly on the palate, but these overtones are overshadowed by the oak and acid.

Once the wine airs out a bit, it loses the harshness and just retains the oaky acidity. It’s even smoother, and a tartness becomes more noticeable in the finish—like a nice dry fruit, sour cherry, etc. There’s also some slight nuttiness at the end. However, this wine suffers from an overshadowing bitterness, and as it airs out more, it only becomes more bitter, to the point that it is too sour to truly enjoy. Ironically, airing it out for a quarter of an hour can actually make the wine worse.

Overall score: 3.2/5.0-3.5/5.0. For value, this is more of a 2.0-2.5. This wine was a tragic disappointment. Muga is my favorite kind of Spanish wine, and this was just became so sour and bitter with time I couldn’t finish. Moreover, the price on it is ridiculous, considering how much better you can find among Spanish wines for so much cheaper.