Winemaker Notes
Macán is a modern and very personal take on the premium quality and highly expressive wines of the DOCa Rioja. It is a commitment to fineness, elegance, complexity and power. And it is the flagship of Bodegas Benjamin de Rothschild & Vega Sicilia, the project launched by Tempos Vega Sicilia and the Compagnie Vinicole Baron Edmond de Rothschild in 2004.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Macán saw a new vinification by plot with the introduction of their new fermentation room. The Tempranillo came from selected vineyards from their 92 hectares; it fermented in oak vats and matured in 4,000-liter and barriques (50/50) for some 16 months and was kept in bottle for three years before being released. They think this 2016 is finally the style they were looking for, a wine with density and freshness. 2016 was the first year they vinified and aged from start to finish in the new winery, and they believe that gave them better control over the fermentations. 2016 is a year with more freshness than 2015, and they are trying to achieve wines with more tension and less power and oak than in the beginning. This could very well be the finest vintage of Macán so far. The grapes were picked between September 17th and October 3rd. 87,792 bottles, 2,570 magnums and some larger formats were produced. The wine was bottled in September 2018.
Rating: 94(+) -
James Suckling
Sweet-berry, lavender and blueberry aromas follow through to a full body with round, juicy tannins and a flavorful finish. A little hard now. Try after 2021.
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Wine & Spirits
This partnership focuses Bordeaux and Ribera del Duero expertise on tempranillo in Rioja. Macán, the flagship wine, launched in 2009, is a selection from high terraces where the soils are gravelly, calcareous and loamy. As the team explores extraction in the context of Rioja tempranillo, they have created a 2016 with powerful tannins and equally powerful fruit, generous and giving, tough and strong. Presenting a deep well of cherry riches along with some bitter chocolate and orange peel notes, the weight and structure of the wine makes it an unusual take on the region’s terroir. Suited to age, it will be interesting to see where this wine lands in ten years’ time.
Hailed as the star red variety in Spain’s most celebrated wine region, Tempranillo from Rioja, or simply labeled, “Rioja,” produces elegant wines with complex notes of red and black fruit, crushed rock, leather, toast and tobacco, whose best examples are fully capable of decades of improvement in the cellar.
Rioja wines are typically a blend of fruit from its three sub-regions: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental, although specific sub-region (zonas), village (municipios) and vineyard (viñedo singular) wines can now be labeled. Rioja Alta and Alavesa, at the highest elevations, are considered to be the source of the brightest, most elegant fruit, while grapes from the warmer and drier, Rioja Oriental, produce wines with deep color, great body and richness.