Benjamin de Rothschild & Vega Sicilia

94 pts Wine Advocate
The 2020 Macán Clásico was cropped from a more generous crop. 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 inoculated the yeasts—in 2020, 25% of it was their native yeast. It fermented in stainless steel, and the élevage was 45% in new French and 5% new American oak barrels, 28% in second use barrel 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 the most was the velvety texture. 202,697 bottles, 1,998 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in August 2022.

Macán Clásico is a single varietal, 100% Tempranillo. Its grapes come from plots with limestone and sandy-clay soils. The 2020 vintage was abundant, rainy, balanced and fluid. Although it was a challenging year due to Covid, in the vineyard we benefited from the fruitiness of the grapes and more elegant skins. We pushed the extraction a little further and put more emphasis on the oak in the ageing process, especially American oak, to give the wine more density.

Macán Clásico 2020 delivers a lively, vibrant, digestible, yet fun expression. Macán Clásico is gradually asserting its own style.

This wine is suitable for drinking now, but it can be cellared for 10-15 years if stored in optimal conditions: 12-14 ºC / 54-57 ºF and 60 % relative humidity.

Deep ruby in the glass, this wine has a bouquet of pomegranate and cocoa powder with a touch of florality. A sheath of silky tannins is wrapped around blackberry, Mission fig and rose petal flavors that drift into a gorgeous finish laced with a note of orange blossom." - 95/100, Wine Enthusiast