The harmony of beauty
Macán Clásico emerged from the heart of La Rioja. A wine of yesterday and today that respects the most authentic and typical style of a prestigious region.
A wine that searches for harmony by turning to its roots. The nature of its origins gives it a special elegance, a lingering mark, wrapping it in an unforgettable balance of sensitivity and expressivity.
Red wine wholly made using the Tempranillo variety. After the alcoholic fermentation, the malolactic process is carried out in barrels and in tanks. The ageing takes place in extrafine and fine grain French wood, the majority in new barrels and the rest in one-wine barrels. It remains in wood for 15 months and then in bottles until it is sold.
Macán and Macán Clásico are the joint vision that two great names of the wine world, Rothschild and Vega Sicilia, have of La Rioja. They are very elegant wines, where the harmony of their aromas and flavours show the authenticity of the land from where they come and its capacity to produce great wines.
Macán Clásico is very approachable and expressive, more pleasant and pleasurable when drunk with a marked character of the land from which it comes and a simplicity that makes it very attractive.
Its co-existence is due to the desire to preserve the Bordeaux tradition to produce a first and second wine. Both always coexist and are treated exactly the same from the wine to the classification tasting. The different wine batches of the vintage are then separated, with the two wines being considered individually and showing the differences between them.
Description
Macán Clásico is a quintessential wine from the foothills of the Sierra de Cantabria in La Rioja, reflecting centuries of tradition, knowledge and winemaking culture. It showcases the freshness, fruitiness, liveliness and delicateness of the terroir, while also providing depth and complexity.
Since 2004, behind the making of this wine, the winery has been meticulously working on the selection, acquisition and nurture of 98 hectares of vineyard, releasing its first vintage in 2009. And since 2016, the joint venture between Tempos Vega Sicilia and the Compagnie Vinicole Baron Edmond de Rothschild within the DOCa Rioja has owned modern facilities where innovation, technology and wine science converge.
Macán Clásico is single-varietal 100 % Tempranillo. Its grapes come from limestone plots with a slightly more sandy-loam profile. This vintage was marked by a frost on April 28th, with the harvest taking place early and in somewhat warm conditions. This is why special emphasis was placed on very gentle extractions, working the presses differently this year and polishing them before blending in the final assemblage. 50 % new oak barrels were used for ageing, giving greater weight to the fresher profiles, and 10 % American oak barrels to work on smoothness.
Macán Clásico 2017 conveys the purest expression of Rioja Tempranillo, with its profile being somewhat warmer and firmer yet extremely harmonious.
General information
Alcohol by volume
14.5 %Variety
TempranilloAverage age of vineyard
30 yearsVineyard surface area
102 haPlanting density
3,333 plants/haAltitude
483 mYield
2,200 kg/ha - 25 Hl/haHarvest
Manual in 12 kg boxes from September 15th to September 27th2017 Vineyard cycle
The winter of 2017 was mild and fairly dry. The months of December and January were cooler and harsher, but temperatures were higher than normal (almost spring-like) in the second fortnight of February.
2017 will always be marked by the late frosts that affected crops in the northern half of Spain. In the specific case of the BR-VS plots, on 20 April there was a light frost in San Vicente de la Sonsierra. More serious was the advection frost (due to a cold spell originating from northern Europe) recorded on 28 April, which affected certain areas of the vineyard.
Scattered showers and mild temperatures in the spring slightly brought forward the growth cycle of the vineyard. There was further heavy rain in June, with more than 70 litres per square metre. In the month of July there were storms with some hail damage, although the good wind and temperature conditions of the following days quickly healed the wounds and impacts caused by these storms.
Meanwhile, rainfall in late August and early September helped mitigate water shortages in the middle and deep root areas. The rains in these months favoured growth and the normal development of the grape ripening process.
The harvest proceeded under normal conditions between 15 September and 27 September, with good weather prevailing.
Storage, serving and drinking window
This wine is suitable for drinking now, but it can be stored for 10-15 years in optimal conditions: 12-14 °C / 54-57 ºF and 60 % relative humidity.
The recommended serving temperature is 18 °C / 64 ºF.
Production
37,211 Bordeaux bottles, 1,057 Magnum, 80 Double Magnum and 24 Imperial.
Year bottled
August 2019