Tasting old wine is like time travel. We like to recall historical events during that year, what in our lives, and our friends' lives. For us, 1996 was a life-altering year. We immigrated to the United States and started life from scratch.   

That's what made our wine swinging trip to 1996 a Tempranillo night to remember. We started with 1996 Rioja and continued with two single-vineyard wines from Sardon de Duero, the northern Spain winegrowing area just west of Ribera del Duero and in the same climate zone. 

Why did we pick Sardon de Duero and not Ribera del Duero to compare with Rioja?

Despite Sardon de Duero's ancient winemaking tradition, established by the Romans, it only recently gained prominence. It is not an official appellation like Rioja DOC and Ribera del Duero DO. Yet, it's a part of the prestigious La Milla de Oro ("Golden Mile") wineries located along the Duero river basin in Castilla y Leon's community. La Milla de Oro has a unique microclimate and is called home by some of Spain's most revered wineries, including Vega Sicilia, Dominio de Pingus, Bodegas Mauro, and Abadia Retuerta. 

In some way, Sardon de Duero is an underdog in the Tempranillo fight. That's why it might make our tasting even more intriguing. After all, we were underdogs in 1996 when we moved to the United States. And who would like to see the underdog succeed? 

1996 Bodegas Muga "Torre Muga" Rioja

1996 "Torre Muga" from Bodegas Muga was the first in our line-up. 

Since its foundation in 1932, Bodegas Muga remains true to the traditional winemaking methods, such as racking the casks by gravity and fining the wine with fresh egg whites. As modern times came, Bodegas Muga has successfully combined the family tradition with innovation in winemaking and preserved their own personality and character. 

In the Glass

Surprisingly, when we poured Torre Muga, it had a deep ruby color with just a brick tint and orange rim. 

It started with savory notes of dill and olive with a whiff of barnyard. As it opened up more blackberry, prune, stewed black currant finishing with notes of tar, pure tea, and tobacco—just a superbly sophisticated nose. 

The fruit came right through with prune, plum, and blackberry complemented by smokey cured meats on the palate. The finish was driven by the coffee aftertaste. 

1996 Abadia Retuerta Cuvee El Campanario

The next wine, 1996 Abadia Retuerta Cuvée el Campario came from the award-winning Abadia Retuerta winery in Sardon de Duero. It's one of the most high-tech producers who led the charge to modernize Spain's wine industry. The company has been critical in raising the area's profile and has encouraged other growers to establish themselves here. Abadia Retuerta is located on the grounds of a 12th-century monastery, Santa Maria de Atuerta, 20 miles southeast of historic Valladolid city. Its highly regarded red wines are classified as Vino de la Tierra, formally ranking it below both Rioja and Ribera del Duero. Does the Super-Tuscan story ring a bell?

Interestingly, Cuvée el Campario is a single vineyard wine. Paradoxically, it belongs to both the bottom rank of Vino de la Tierra and the top Pago (single vineyard) according to the modern Spanish wine quality pyramid. 

If we compare it to the French system, it's Table wine and Grand Cru at the same time. So let's forget the ranking and follow the wine.

In the Glass

In the glass, Cuvée el Campario was deep ruby like it didn't spend a quarter of the century in the bottle. 

The aromas were jammy and driven by the blackberry, black currant, and prune with herbal notes of eucalyptus and tea leaf.

The fruity flavor profile was a combination of black currant, ripe sour cherry, and blackberry. The finish had a distinct toast and ash like aromas. 

Cuvée el Campario is no longer produced, and that what makes drinking it one of a kind experience. Economist and wine broker Juan José Abó was the first to recognize the tremendous winegrowing potential of Abadía Retuerta back in the 1980s, although there were no vines left on the estate. Here's what he said about the discontinued wines: "The cuvées were conceived as wines with different styles whilst we waited for the vineyards that needed more years to be ready. Campanario was a tight cuvée with all the austerity of the estate while Palomar was more celebratory."

1996 Abadia Retuerta Pago Negralada 

Just as the previous wine, 1996 Abadia Retuerta Pago Negralada is a single-vineyard wine from Abadia Retuerta. And as Cuvée el Campario it qualifies both as the bottom and the top wine on Spain's wine quality pyramid. 

In the Glass

At first, we thought Pago Negralada might be gone because it looked a bit muddy and had more of tawny color than ruby. But luckily, it was ok. 

The nose was almost evenly split between fruity aromas of cassis, sour cherry, and dried fruits, and herbs of dill and tarragon. 

On the palate, it's fruit-driven with black currant, cherry with notes of rye bread, coffee, ash, and minerality.

The finish is long with bing cherry aftertaste. 

And the winner is...

We decanted the wines for a couple of hours and tasted them for another two. Cuvée el Campario took the lead after the first round. The second round was won by Pago. They kept trading rounds, and the winner kept us at the edge of our glasses all the way through the twelfth. It took the last few drops to determine a winner—drum roll.

And the winner is... Torre Muga! It took close to four hours for Torre Muga to completely open up and show us all its beauty and finesse. 

It looked like a younger talented fighter went against an experienced older opponent to compare this tasting to a boxing match. The talented youngster took the first few rounds thanks to its speed and agility. Still, an experienced fighter knows its limitations and waits for the right opportunity to knock out the opponent. Sometimes you just have to wait it out, and that's what Torre Muga did. 

In the wine world, what helped Torre Muga take it to the top is hard to describe. It was just a little finesse that won us over. Let's call it wine magic.

They are all fantastic wines, and we loved each for its uniqueness. If we finished them within an hour or two, we probably wouldn't realize that we missed out on Torre Muga. In all likelihood, the winner would've been either Pago Negralada or Cuvée el Campario. 

That's why old wines need to be savored, not drank. Old wines need a smaller company and a quieter environment to hear its whisper.  

We are thankful to our friend, an oenophile (scientific lingo for wine swinger) with over 30 years of wine collecting experience. Thank you to our friend; we traveled back to 1996 when we came to the United States of America.