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I LOL'ed.
You should lay down something like a case of Muga Prado Enea Gran Reserva for that experiment. I've had many a bottle of the Tondonia.
Interesting. I am at the beginning of my wine journey, so am very much open to suggestions - although this will be a casual interest and funds will be somewhat limited as a result.
What makes you say that the Muga Prado Enea Gran Reserva would be better for laying down? Is it that it is comparatively young and the difference will be more profound? It seems, to me at least, to represent poor value (twice the price) for a two year aged Gran Reserva (I believe this is the legal bare minimum?) over the six year Tondonia Reserva.
The traditional approach of López de Heredia is very appealing to me and I really enjoyed the 2006 Reserva. I am currently looking to buy a Tondonia Gran Reserva and some Bosconia Reservas for laying down.
So a Gran Reserva by law must have two years minimum in oak and a total of five years age before being released. A Reserva only requires one year in oak and three years total age prior to release.
Muga is also a very classic bodega in regards to wine making. If you feel it is a poor value simply based on pricing I shall withdraw my recommendation. I'm not sure what you mean by it's "very young" as library vintages are easily available.
I was incorrect - the Muga Gran Reserva is aged three years in the barrel, not two years as I said earlier, however, my (genuine) question still remains as to why you feel it poses a better prospect for aging than the Tondonia. When you recommended the Muga I looked on Berry Bros' website with a view to buying a few bottles, but was surprised at Luis Gutiérrez's write up on there.
https://www.bbr.com/products-40995-2009-prado-enea-gran-reserva-bodegas-muga-rioja
"This is still a baby and I know Winemaker Jorge Muga would like to keep it in bottle for longer before selling it, but the commercial pressure is tremendous, as there has been no wine since 2006". He then goes on to say "The wine feels even younger on the palate, and it still needs to develop some further complexity and the silky texture for which this wine is famous".
As I'm sure you will appreciate this indicates a young wine and is was what led me to assume (seemingly incorrectly) that this may have been one of your reasons for recommending it for laying down. The fact that the winemaker bends to commercial pressure and appears to release the wine earlier than he feels ideal appears to be in stark contrast to López de Heredia's approach.
In my defence, I didn't say "very young" I said "comparatively young", which compared to the Tondonia (three years in the barrel against six years in the barrel) it is.
I'm not suggesting age is the be all and end all, but the value I was referring to was in respect of the price vs age - as they are the only two quantifiable measures I could use (what with taste being subjective and the reason for my question).