Red

Organic

98 pts Wine Advocate
Their Gran Reserva style red 2015 Penas Aladas Gran Reserva had a very long aging in barrel a total of 54 months including six months of malolactic fermentation. This comes from a myriad of small plots of some of the oldest vines in the village of La Aguilera in the same zone that names the wine at 870 to 890 meters in altitude. The valley receives very cold winds from the Duero River and the vineyards are surrounded by junipers pines and oak trees which makes it up to three degrees Celsius lower than the rest of the village one of the coldest places in the whole of Ribera del Duero. The soils have a layer of sand that is gradually mixed with clay until around one meter deep and then there's a layer of marl and limestone a textbook soil for the vine. 2015 was a powerful vintage and there was some frost that also delivered a little more concentration. The wine has an old Ribera del Duero style with some rusticity and lots of power energy and concentration but with great balance. It has plenty of fine tannins and lots of chalkiness. This should be very long lived. 2223 bottles and 41 magnums were hand bottled unfiltered and unfined in May 2020.

#53 on The Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2022.

94 points Wine Spectator
Well-tailored in an understated way, this harmonious red is plushly creamy on the palate, like fine cashmere, showing seamless integration of the sculpted tannins with finely detailed flavors of black cherry and black plum reduction, sandalwood, cedar, green olive, espresso crema and minerally smoke and iron. Long and lightly juicy on the refined finish. Tempranillo, Graciano, Mazuelo and Garnacha. Drink now through 2030

97 points Wine Advocate
The most classical of their wines, the 2015 Prado Enea Gran Reserva is a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano, mostly from Rioja Alta (Sajazarra, Cellorigo and Fonzaleche), but the Garnacha is from different plots in the zone of Tudelilla at high altitude. These grapes are always picked last, but the wine has a similar alcohol level as the rest, around 14.5% in a warm year like 2019. The modus operandi is similar to other of the top cuvees?harvested into 200-kilogram boxes, destemming, optical sorting and fermentation in small oak casks with indigenous yeasts. The elevage in this case is extended to 36 months, and the barrels are only 10% new. This is, year in, year out, my favorite wine from Muga, and in this powerful and ripe year, these late-harvesting vines ripened thoroughly and delivered a full array of aromas and flavors so that the wine has plenty of depth and complexity. It has a very classical profile, with incipient tertiary notes, perfumed, floral and rich, textured and beautifully balanced. They compare this 2015 with 2009 and 2005 in terms of style but with freshness in the style of 2001 and 2010. It's enjoyable but should also develop for a long time in bottle. One of the finest Prado Enea vintages. 108,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2018. There's no 2012 or 2013 of this. There will be a 2016 and 2019, but no 2017 or 2018. 2020 is still a question mark, they have not yet decided it.

97 points James Suckling
Reserved and polished, this is a Prado Enea with great class and focus. It’s so aromatic,with plum, peach, cherry and cedar character. Salted olives, too. Medium-to full-bodied with very fine tannins and a long, fresh finish. Elegance with power here. Give it three or four years to open, but already impressive.

Here is a Malbec with a delicate and elegant structure, excellent acidity and a nose full of blueberries, figs, and hints of violets.

Sustainable with very low intervention. 94% Malbec 6% Cabernet franc. The grapes are hand-picked and hand-sorted and the vinification occurs with whole berries. The wine stays in contact with the skins for more than 30 days. A small portion of Malbec was fermented with stems. We are extremely careful with the extraction to obtain very fine tanins. To do this, the best tool is to work with native yeasts and to have good control of the temperatures during fermentation. Aged in old barrels, Apollo eggs and Flexcubes. Unfined and gross filtration. Only 183 cases produced.