Flor de Muga Blanco

The white 2021 Flor de Muga Blanco Reserva sold with the Reserva category, as the market is more and more interested in whites with a long élevage. It's a white with aging potential and complexity produced with a blend of 40% old-vine Viura, 30% Garnacha Blanca and 30% Maturana Blanca with good ripeness in a great year when the grapes ripened thoroughly and developed full aromas and flavors but kept very good freshness. The free-run juice fermented in small barrels at low temperature, then was kept in concrete eggs for three months and then aged for six months in new barrels crafted by their coopers. It's smoky, spicy and toasty, still very young and undeveloped, primary but open and expressive with balsamic notes of bay leaf, waxy apples and flowers, and it has a seamless and balanced palate with a serious, chalky finish. 23,038 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2022.

Like they did with the Rosado a few years ago, there is now a top-of-the-range white. The 2018 Flor de Muga Blanco was produced with a blend of 40% Viura from red limestone and clay soils, 30% Garnacha Blanca from classical clay and limestone and 30% Maturana Blanca planted on sandy soils. They selected the free run must after a short maceration in the press and fermented it in small oak vats (there's no stainless steel at Muga) at low temperature. The wine was then kept with fine lees in concrete eggs for three months, during which time they expected it to fix aromas and provide some volume, and then it was aged in lightly toasted new French oak barrels for six months. The wine has been kept in bottle for 18 months. This is a notable addition to Muga's portfolio, a white that follows the trend for updated traditional whites that go beyond the fresh and fruity wines that were the norm in the last few years, going back to the whites from yesteryear. The wine has a Burgundian profile, less oxidative than the old traditional whites, with smoky and spicy notes, white pepper and flowers, and the varieties feel very integrated and complementary. The palate is medium-bodied, with a velvety texture and very good natural acidity and pH, making it vibrant, transparent and focused. This will be a Reserva and released in February/March 2021. They produced 11,400 bottles in this first vintage. The price has not yet been decided.