Benjamin de Rothschild & Vega Sicilia
Two well-known figures in the wine industry attached their names to the same bodega and then gave the wine a completely new third name: Macán. Benjamin de Rothschild & Vega Sicilia is a Rioja bodega, a joint venture between the Rothschild family's wine company and Tempos Vega Sicilia, which is the Spanish House operated by the Álvarez family. This winery is located in Samaniego, part of Rioja Alavesa, and produces only two red wines: Macán and Macán Clásico. This structure is modeled directly after the Bordeaux method, in which the first and second wines are vinified side by side and separated only after tasting. The Tempranillo variety accounts for nearly all of the production. Although this is a joint project launched by two long-established families, the winery itself is relatively new, with its first vintage released in 2009.
History
Benjamin de Rothschild was seeking help to invest in and produce wine in Spain when he met Pablo Álvarez, a partner of Tempos Vega Sicilia, in 2003. He proposed becoming a partner, which led to a complete shift in the overall direction of the plan. Bodegas Benjamin de Rothschild & Vega Sicilia was officially established in 2004. Both parties shared the same goal: not merely to purchase labels from Rioja, but to produce authentic wine there. For the next five years, there was not a single bottle of wine to sell. During that time, they devoted themselves to studying the terroir and acquiring vineyards, and it wasn't until 2009 that the project took shape with the release of the first vintages of Macán and Macán Clásico. In the commercial world, five years is a long period of silence, which clearly demonstrates where their priorities lay at the time. Since then, the Rothschild and Álvarez families have jointly operated Macán. The goal they articulated in Rioja is not to imitate what already exists, but to reinterpret this historic region through a modern lens.
Ninety-two hectares around Samaniego
Bodegas Benjamin de Rothschild & Vega Sicilia is located in Samaniego, which belongs to the province of Álava, and is situated at Paraje de San Millán, on Camino de los Caños. This corresponds to Rioja Alavesa, the northern region of the Rioja Designation of Origin. Over the five years leading up to the release of their first vintage, they acquired 92 hectares of vineyards. This figure was not a starting point but rather the result of terroir research, which was a logical sequence of steps. The vineyard area did not remain fixed. Ahead of the 2020 harvest, the winery introduced new plots and previously unused grape varieties to complement its existing vineyards. When you've been cultivating the same soil for over a decade, you naturally come to understand it.
The grapes
Macán is made from:
-Tempranillo, a grape variety known as Tinto Fino. In Rioja Alavesa, this variety is the obvious choice, and the winery did not view this as a limitation.
- Garnacha: A variety produced from a relatively recently planted vineyard
- Graciano: A variety that was also introduced relatively recently.
Winemaking
After alcoholic fermentation, malolactic fermentation, the secondary fermentation that softens the wine, follows. Rather than sticking to a single method, Benjamin de Rothschild & Vega Sicilia conducts part of this process in oak barrels and part in tanks.
Aging takes place primarily in new oak barrels, mainly in extra-fine and fine-grain French oak barrels, with the remainder aged in barrels that have been used once before. Macán is aged in oak barrels for 15 months, followed by bottle aging prior to release.
Here lies the most important part. Macán and Macán Clásico are handled in exactly the same way, from the winemaking process all the way through to the stage the bodega calls the classification tasting. Only at that point are the lots for that vintage separated, and the two wines are evaluated independently. Nothing is designated as a second wine in advance.
This method was adopted from Bordeaux, and it is precisely for this reason that the differences between the two wines vary from year to year rather than following a fixed recipe.
Macán and Macán Clásico
Bodegas Benjamin de Rothschild & Vega Sicilia produces two red wines, which are always available together: Macán and Macán Clásico. Both wines are produced from the Rioja Alavesa vineyard, aged in the same winery, and share the same name for a special reason.
Macán has a more restrained character than the other wine. The winery itself describes this wine as one that seems to remain in the background, noting that it features prominent minerality underpinned by velvety-soft tannins and possesses superior ageing potential compared with its junior partner. Patience is the first step to enjoying this wine.
While Macán Clásico is considered the second wine in the Bordeaux model, this does not imply that it has less fruitiness or was produced with inferior winemaking techniques; it simply received a different rating in the classification system. This wine is the more approachable of the two.
Neither wine is intended to evoke nostalgia. Rothschild and Álvarez sought to add a modern interpretation to Rioja while preserving the region's true character, and the two Macán wines embody that very concept in liquid form.
Frequently asked questions
Who owns Benjamin de Rothschild & Vega Sicilia?
It is a joint venture between the Rothschild family's wine company and Tempos Vega Sicilia, the Spanish house of the Álvarez family. Both families have run it together since Macán was founded.
Where exactly is the bodega?
In Samaniego, in the province of Álava, at Paraje de San Millán. That places it within Rioja Alavesa, inside the Rioja denomination.
Why are the wines called Macán and not Rothschild or Vega Sicilia?
The partners created a new brand for the project rather than extending either family name. Macán is the name of the Rioja venture, separate from Vega Sicilia's Ribera del Duero wines.
What does Clásico mean on the label?
It marks the second wine in the Bordeaux model the bodega follows. Macán Clásico comes from the same vineyards and the same cellar as Macán, with the split made after the classification tasting.
