Why it matters
The producer
In 2004, Tempos Vega Sicilia, the Ribera del Duero estate that had spent decades building some of Spain's most age-worthy reds, and the Wine Company Barón Edmond of Rothschild, the international wine arm of the French banking family, agreed to build something together in Rioja Alavesa. The partnership released its first wines, Macán and Macán Clásico, in 2009, before the winery they would eventually occupy existed.
The two wines follow the Bordeaux model of a primary and a second release. Macán is 100% Tempranillo, aged 15 months in predominantly new French oak. Macán Clásico blends Tempranillo with Grenache and sees 12 to 14 months in French and American oak before a minimum of 18 months in bottle. Both come from old vineyard plots across five Rioja Alavesa municipalities.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Rioja Alavesa is the northernmost and highest of Rioja's three sub-zones, running along the southern slopes of the Sierra Cantabria in the Basque province of Álava. The mountain range blocks Atlantic weather from the north, and the elevation keeps temperatures cooler than in the broader DOCa Rioja plains to the south and east. Grapes here tend to ripen more slowly and retain more natural acidity, which changes what Tempranillo does in the cellar and the glass.
The estate draws from five municipalities scattered across this sub-zone: San Vicente de la Sonsierra, Labastida, Ábalos, Navaridas, and Elvillar. The vineyards sit on elevated terraces. The soils are gravelly and clay-limestone in composition, draining well and warming slowly in spring, which pushes the vines to root deep and produce concentrated, structured fruit rather than fast-ripening flesh.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Vineyard selection across the five municipalities focuses on old plots with established root systems. Old vines in these conditions naturally restrict yield, and restricted yield in clay-limestone soils concentrates flavour in the fruit without extracting aggressively during winemaking.
For Macán, the cellar work centres on 15 months in extrafine and fine-grain French oak, with the majority in new barrels and the remainder in one-wine barrels. New French oak at this level adds a cedar and spice framework to the wine without pushing the fruit aside, and the fine grain of the wood means tannin extraction from the oak itself is measured. The wine reaches 14 to 14.5% ABV.
Wines to know
The range in view
Macán is the estate's principal release, made from a selection of the best old-vine Tempranillo plots across the five municipalities. Aged 15 months in predominantly new French oak and bottled between 14 and 14.5% ABV, it carries enough tannin and acidity from the Rioja Alavesa terraces to reward cellaring. Across recent vintages it moves between dense and immediately generous (2020) and firmer, more reserved expressions that need time (2019). The 2018 sits between those poles: vibrant and more subtly drawn, with the underlying dark fruit held back by acidity rather than tannin.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Macán Clásico. It gives the Rioja Alavesa terroir and the Bordeaux-model cellar approach in an accessible form: Tempranillo with a proportion of Grenache, 12 to 14 months in French and American oak, and at least 18 months in bottle before release. The Grenache lifts the red fruit, the American oak adds texture without overwhelming the wine's grip, and the acidity from the elevated sites holds everything in line through the finish. It is ready to drink on release but built to develop over a decade. At the Clásico level, the estate's approach to Rioja Alavesa becomes clear without the additional commitment the Macán demands.