This wine is only made in exceptional vintages from the very best fruit, is fermented in oak and then aged for up to 26 months in oak before bottling. Muga are masters of Rioja and always careful to ensure (correctly) that the oak enhances and enriches but never dominates.  This well balanced blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo is rich and full with great concentration and depth and a wonderful vanilla finish.  The interesting point here is that this wine isn't far short of being a Gran Reserva (which requires a minimum 2 years in cask and 5 years age in total) but Muga deliberately stop short of that because they're after a wine with a deeper fruit profile and a better balance between modern richness and that traditional Rioja character.  More ageing time (to reach Gran Reserva) would change that profile which is why this is labelled as "Reserva Seleccion Especial".

Rioja is the leading wine producing region in Spain and Bodegas Muga one of their most emblematic and prestigious wineries. It has been a family business ever since their creation in 1932. In their wines you find both tradition and modernity side by side. They are an exact reflection of very specific climatic and geographic features, and that's why they have such a pronounced personality. The double grape checking, both on selection belt and on tasting the musts, means that 50% of the harvest is excluded. Fermentation takes place with indigenous yeast in oak vats. The wines are aged in casks made from oak specially selected from their own cooperage. Meticulously faithful to their traditional wine making methods, Muga use French and American Oak vats and casks throughout the entire process yet their management of oak on their wines is wonderfully exact, correctly "seasoning" the wine and never dominating.