Muga El Andén de La Estación Crianza Rioja 2023

We’ve been after a Crianza from Muga for years. It’s finally here, and it’s exactly what you’d expect from this family: top quality at a fair price.

El Andén de la Estación is named for Haro’s railway station, where Bordeaux’s merchants loaded Rioja onto trains in the 1880s, after phylloxera ruined the French vineyards. The neighbourhood around it became home to Rioja’s founding houses, and Muga has worked there since 1932, run today by the third generation.

This is the family’s most Garnacha-forward red, 70% Tempranillo and 30% Garnacha, fermented with the vineyard’s own yeasts and aged 14 months in barrels Muga coopers on site.

The 2023 pours bright and open: red cherry, raspberry, orange blossom, black pepper, soft vanilla. Round, fresh, savoury. One for roast chicken, lamb, or chorizo off the grill. $21, or $18.90 per bottle on 3 or more.