Macan Rioja 2017

2017 was a very challenging year, as most of their vineyards in San Vicente de la Sonsierra in Rioja were affected by frost, unlike others in nearby Laguardia. Not only was it frost, but they also had hail later on in the season. Quantities suffered—they told me they lost 70% of the crop in Rioja that year—but they were happy about the quality of the 2017 Macán, being very careful with the fermentation and separating the press wine by quality.

The 4,000-liter oak foudres helped to polish the tannins, and they used 50% new barrels. The élevage lasted 16 moths. It's a little riper than the Clásico from 2018 that I tasted next to it, with a little more alcohol (14.5%) and mellow acidity. It's clearly a weaker vintage, and the wine shows it: the fruit is a little ripe and shows some tiredness, like it's evolving at a faster pace. It has abundant, slightly rustic tannins. 40,400 bottles, 2,566 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in September 2019. Quantities reflect the low yields. Robert Parker.com

These 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 and Macán Clásico co-exist 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.