BENJAMIN DE ROTHSCHILD & VEGA SICILIA Rioja DOCa Macan Clasico 2020 MAGNUM (Tempranillo)

Description

Macán Clásico 2020 offers a lively and vibrant expression true to its own style.

100% TEMPRANILLO

Description
Macán Clásico is an exemplary wine from the Sonsierra region of La Rioja, steeped in centuries of tradition, knowledge and winemaking culture in the foothills of the Sierra de Cantabria. It conveys the terroir’s freshness, fruitiness, liveliness, and delicateness, which provides depth and complexity.

A lot of hard work went into selecting, acquiring, and nurturing 100 hectares of vineyard for this wine since 2004, along with the evolution in winemaking since the debut 2009 vintage. Furthermore, Tempos Vega Sicilia and Compagnie Vinicole Baron Edmond de Rothschild have jointly owned modern facilities in the Rioja DOCa region since 2016, where innovation, technology, and wine science converge.

Macán Clásico is made from one single variety: Tempranillo. The grapes come from plots with alkaline sandy-clay soils. The 2020 vintage was rainy but resulted in an abundant yield

THE WINE ADVOCATE 94 points
Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez
Drink Date: 2024 - 2030
The 2020 Macán Clásico was cropped from a more generous yield. The grapes were put in a cold chamber for one night and then underwent a cold soak of three to four days, after which they inoculate the yeasts; in 2020, 25% of the yeasts were their native yeasts. It fermented in stainless steel, and the élevage was 45% in new French oak and 5% in new American oak barrels, 28% in second-use barrels and 22% in stainless steel for one year. The bottled wine has 14% alcohol, a pH of 3.78 and 4.5 grams of acidity (tartaric). This is one of the most elegant vintages of this bottling so far. It has showy aromatics with notes of smoky bacon, a bit meaty, and the thing that surprised me more was the velvety texture. A total of 202,697 bottles, 1,998 magnums and some larger formats were produced. It was bottled in August 2022.

There are some changes at the joint venture between Vega Sicilia and Benjamin de Rothschild, like the introduction of Garnacha and Graciano in the blend from the 2020 vintage and the use of 20,000-liter oak foudres from 2021. They like 2020, an elegant year, and a more powerful 2019.

JAMES SUCKLING 93 Points
Black olives and a hint of black bean puree to the fresh black cherries, damsons and a hint of mint. Refined, medium-bodied palate with fine, fresh tannins that are present but not grainy. Really elegant and long. Drinkable now, but will develop well in the next six to seven years.