September 23, 2016

MUGA "Prado Enea" Gran Reserva 2005

(Rioja, Spain) $50

Muga (which I’ve drunk for 25 years) is one of the top producers of traditionally-styled Rioja. These are wines evocative of rich coffee, old leather-bound books, unlit cigars, cool dirt, spicy incense, and a subtle sweet vanilla-cherry character that is mind-blowingly delicious. Primarily a blend of tempranillo and garnacha, Prado Enea is an utterly silky Gran Reserva that spends four years in barrels of different sizes, before being aged by the bodega for another three years in bottle. It tastes like it costs twice as much as it does, and is a wine that invites surrender.

96 points

Available at Manchester Wine & Liquors

What famous painting was created in exchange for a vineyard?

A. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer

B. Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet

C. The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci

D. The Scream by Edvard Munch

Not every barter deal works out well. But in 1498, the Duke of Milan, Italy. Ludovico Sforza, probably came out ahead. Sforza offered Leonardo da Vinci, the great artist/scientist/inventor, a small vineyard in return for a painting. Da Vinci, a great wine lover, accepted, and went about painting The Last Supper, which was subsequently hung in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. Da Vinci’s vineyard survived until 1943, when it was destroyed by a fire that resulted from Allied bombing in World War II. In 2007, Italian viticulturists and geneticists began excavating the site of the former vineyard, which ironically had been protected by layers of ash and debris. Through DNA testing of the extant roots they found buried there, the scientists determined that da Vinci had grown Malvasia di Candia Aromatica, a white variety still grown in Lombardy.

1.5

Estimated number of millions of cases of Tasmanian wine to be produced by next year, triple the amount made just six years ago. (New investors in the Tasmanian wine industry include the Australian government which… Continue reading

MUGA "Prado Enea" Gran Reserva 2005

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