One of the best things about where I live is the wine. The autonomous region of La Rioja is filled with wineries. Since I moved to the region a year and a half ago, I’ve only visited a few of them. So last weekend I decided to change that and visit a classic La Rioja winery: Muga.
Muga might be one of the more well-known wine brands of the region. In fact, they’ve been featured in publications such as Vogue. However the impression I was left with after my visit was how much care they take with every little detail. Everything from how they make their wine down to how we were treated by their staff was simply excellent.
Where is Muga?
Like many classic La Rioja bodegas (Spanish for winery), this classic La Rioja Winery is located in Haro. While Haro is not the capital of the autonomous region, it does claim to be the capital of the wine region “el Rioja.” It is about a 30-minute drive and a 45-minute to an hour bus ride from Logroño.
Haro is an easy town to get to by bus or train. If you’re coming from Logroño, Jimenez is the best bus company to book with. You can also take the train from Logroño, but it’s more expensive. If you’re coming from Bilbao, Cuadrabus is your best bet.
Our first impressions
Before our trip to Haro, I knew very little about Muga. The only thing I had heard was that Muga is a very well-known La Rioja winery. When we walked in, we were quite impressed with the set-up. Several people from the marketing team greeted us and we had a quick look around as we waited for our tour guide.
Alex (from East Coast Contessa) and I were greeted by Carmen, a lovely tour guide with amazing English. We were taken around the bodega by her for the next several hours. She was incredibly kind and helpful the entire time.
Let’s talk about grapes
One thing that really stood out to me about Muga is that they still use oak for everything. All bodegas have these huge casks that the put the grapes in to let the wine ferment and separate the liquid from the branches. In the olden days, most bodegas used wood. However nowadays, most have a few wooden ones for show and the rest are steel. I suppose steel is just easier to work with.
Muga, however, is a La Rioja winery that only uses wood. There wasn’t a single steel barrel. They like to stick to how they’ve always done it.
During this part of the tour, I learned that egg whites are used in the wine making process. Egg whites help clean the red wine and make it more of a clear liquid. They help remove some of the harsh tannins and make the wine more of a smooth, drinkable drink.
Egg whites are used after the wine has aged in the barrel but before it gets bottled. For every 100 liters of red white, two-three egg whites are used
Letting that wine age
Next we were brought into a room where we could find wines from lots of different years. I, of course, found the section with my birth year (1987). It was cool seeing wine bottles that dated back many, many years.
Wine can be in the bottle anywhere from 9-36 months.
All the barrels
Next we explored where they barrel the wine. Basically after the wine is in those big oak casks, it is transferred to smaller barrels where it sits for a certain amount of time. Since we went on Friday, we got to see the men at work!
We got to see the workers filling the barrels up with wine. This is an intense process that only a few bodega employees are trained in. The technician working that day said that he can hear when a barrel is about to become full.
We also got a first-hand look at stacking the barrels. Basically once a barrel is filled with wine, it gets stacked on a rack. One guy drives the machine that lifts the barrels up and the other one sets the barrel in place.
Scorching the barrels
Next we saw where the barrels were scorched. Basically the darker the wood, the darker the wine. We got to take a look inside the barrels that were being scorched as well.
The Muga family home
Part of the this La Rioja winery tour was exploring the Muga family home. I must say that it was just as beautiful from the outside as it is on the inside.
And finally, the tasting
No visit to a La Rioja winery is complete without the cata (Spanish for tasting). The people at Muga were very generous and let us try eight different wines. We tried everything from a sparkling wine to a white wine to several reds.
I must say that if you want to explore the North of Spain, experiencing La Rioja wine is a must. I had toured other bodegas before, but I felt the most at home at Muga. Everyone we met was incredibly kind and we really got an up-close and personal experience.
We were guests at Muga. All opinions are my own.
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