Macan - Rioja 2018 (750ml)

 

Price: $119.99

Qty:   Add to Cart

Quantity in Stock: 3

96 Pts Tim Atkin

Producer	Macan
Country	Spain
Region	Rioja
Varietal	Tempranillo
Vintage	2018
Sku	8437013426473
Size	750ml

Bodegas Benjamin Rothschild and Vega Sicilia Macan 2018

2 of the greatest wineries in the world collaborate in Rioja! 

The worst-kept secret in European wine circles has been Vega Sicilia’s expansion into Rioja. Vega Sicilia and Benjamin de Rothschild began the project over a decade ago, with the discreet but steady acquisition of multiple vineyard plots from smallholder farmers. In this way, they quietly built up what is now a sizeable holding of 120 hectares, all within 10 km of the village of San Vicente in the Rioja Alta. In the true style of Vega Sicilia, their purchases concentrated on the very best ‘terroir’, with stony calcareous clay soils, complex warm and cool meso-climatic influences, and deep-rooted Tempranillo vines of 25 to 80 years in age. MACAN is the name chosen for the wines, derived from a traditional name for the people of this sub-region of Rioja. Each year, they aim to produce two wines, MACAN, and MACAN CLASICO, “a first and a second wine following the Bordeaux tradition of classification by tasting the different lots and bottling a first wine with more potential and a second wine more expressive and easier to drink when young.” This is perhaps the most notable influence of the Rothschild family on the project, because otherwise all viticulture and winemaking is in the hands of the Vega Sicilia team. The style of the wines is certainly not ‘traditional’ Rioja - after trials, they decided against American oak - but the style is not modern “alto espreccion” either. Perhaps the term Neo-Classical is most apt, with complex mineral-infused fruit and discreet oak influences, underpinned by a fine but firm structure. These are definitely “fine wines” in the grand European tradition, and sure to generate serious media, trade, and consumer interest.

96 Pts Tim Atkin (M.W.) - The bodega's Gran Vino - or Grand Vin if you’re French - is sourced from 100 hectares in the villages of Ábalos, Elvillar, Labastida, Navaridas, and San Vicente de la Sonsierra. Firm, powerful, structured, and built to develop in bottle for a decade or more. Serious and compact, with damson, blackberry, and coffee bean flavors, refreshing acidity and impressive palate length. Drink 2025 - 2035
 

The 2018 Macan has moderate alcohol (14%) and more freshness (pH 3.69), reflecting a cooler and rainier year that forced them to fine-tune the sorting and selection of the grapes, which fermented with selected yeasts. The elevage was in barrel (55%) and larger foudres for 16 months. 2018 was quite different from 2019, as it was cooler and rainier. The wine is serious and harmonious, which was a challenge, and winemaker Gonzalo Iturriaga told me that they had to be very careful and sort and select the grapes. It's textured and elegant, a style that follows the path of the 2016; it's elegant but with depth, managing the elevage in foudre better, which was a learning process they started in 2016.