MacRobert & Canals, new wave Rioja with a terroir focus
What happens when a winemaker from the Swartland marries a winemaker from Rioja? Well, he moves there and starts making terroir-focused wines
I first met Bryan MacRobert in the Swartland in 2011, and I was taken by his small-production, minimal intervention wines. Since then, he’s moved to Rioja, and is now making wine there, out of a small cellar in Logroño.
It was love that took him to this region of paradoxes: great vineyards but factory wineries. Having worked with Eben Sadie in the Swartland, he did vintage at Terroir al Limit in Priorat, a winery that Eben was involved with at the time. There he met a girl from Rioja, Clara Canals, and now they are married. She is a winemaker here (at Ysios), and her father in law, Fernando Canals, is an investor in his project.
Bryan’s first vintage here was in 2013. Initially he rented vineyards, but more recently he has been able to buy some. For those that he rents, he does the farming. They are mostly small and old. Grapes are picked by hand into small crates and brought to the winery, where they pass over a sorting table.
Many of the younger Rioja producers are trying to focus more on the vineyard, rather than the ageing in oak aspect of Rioja that is still so dominant. This is a big region, and it will take a long time to turn it around, but increased focus on terroir rather than factory winemaking is long overdue here.
These wines are imported into the UK by Graft Wine
THE WINES
MacRobert & Canals Laventura Viura 2022 Rioja, Spain
This is from a 35 year old dry-farmed bush vine vineyard in Alavesa. Fermented and aged in foudre. Fine, delicate and expressive with nice mandarin and melon fruit. It’s expressive and nuanced. 94/100
MacRobert & Canals Malvasia 2021 Rioja, Spain
Skin fermented for 10.5 days and then raised in concrete eggs. Aromatic and bright with apple and pear, and some mineral grainy structure with a grippy finish after lots of nice fruit. 93/100
MacRobert & Canals La Nave Blanco 2022 Rioja, Spain
Viura and Garnacha Blanco. Regional blend. Fresh, supple and fine with pure fruit and notes of pear and citrus, as well as a touch of apple. There’s some spice and even a touch of mint. 92/100
MacRobert & Canals La Nave Tinto 2020 Rioja, Spain
A regional blend, aged for 6 months in conctrete. Fresh and linear with red cherries and plums. Mineral and fine with some dried herbs, redcurrants and minerals. So refined and elegant. 93/100
MacRobert & Canals Cuatro Corros 2022 Rioja, Spain
This is a 65+ year old vineyard planted with mixed varieties, including some whites (half of the vineyard). Destemmed, and aged in barrel. Supple, stony, bright and elegant with red cherries, some citrus, and some herby notes. Finely mineral with lovely weight: this is just so elegant. 95/100
MacRobert & Canals Barranco del San Ginés 2016 Rioja, Spain
This is an old vineyard that’s a field blend of different varieties, close planted (1.6 x 1.6 m) on a slope. It’s in La Guardia in Rioja Alavesa and they bought it in 2015. 80% Tempranillo, 5% Garnacha, 5% Cariñena and others. It was field grafted onto Rupestris du Lot rootstock some 80 years ago, and the vines follow the contour of the land, and work is with mules. Farming a vineyard like this can be tricky: if you leave competition (weeds or cover crop) for three years, the vineyard begins to enter a downward spiral. They use a mold board plough doing criss-cross ploughing which results in less erosion. Destemmed and fermented in concrete, and then aged in foudres. This is sweetly textured with bold fruit and nice intensity. Red cherries and plums with a stony edge and then some herbs. Sweetly textured with fine tannins. 95/100
MacRobert & Canals Paraje de la Virgen 2022 Rioja, Spain
This is from a 1920 vineyard that had been abandoned, but which they took on in 2020. Fresh and fine with nice acidity, showing vibrant red cherry and plum fruit with lovely balance. Fresh and sappy with a hint of iron. Lovely finesse and purity here. 95/100
Older notes from 2019
Laventura Viura 2017 Rioja, Spain
This is from an old vineyard with limestone soils, and it’s about 90% Viura with some other varieties in the mix from Rioja Alavesa. Fermented and matured in large format oak. Fine and precise with some ripe pear, tangerine and soft peachy notes. Nice fresh focus with some minerality, with good texture. 92/100
Lanave 2016 Rioja, Spain
Half Tempranillo and half Garnacha, spends one year in oak (500 litre, used). Sweetly aromatic nose with floral cherry fruit. Lovely expressive raspberry and cherry fruit here with good structure and some elegance. Focused and very drinkable. 93/100
Laventura Garnacha 2017 Rioja, Spain
From sandstone soils at 600 m in Rioja Oriental (Tudelilla). Destemmed. Fine and expressive with raspberry and red cherry fruit. Good acidity and a nicely grainy structure. Elegant and red fruited with good finesse. 94/100
Laventura Tempranillo 2016 Rioja, Spain
From Laguardia in Rioja Alavesa. Tight and slightly reductive with compact blackberry fruit and a lot of tannic grip. Quite backwards with nice density. 92/100
Barrango del San Ginés 2015 Rioja, Spain
This is from a 1.3 ha vineyard planted in 1935 at an altitude of 520-600 metres on limestone soils in Rioja Alavesa and now cultivated organically. It’s a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano, Carinena and Virua. Taut nose of floral red cherry and plum fruit with hints of leather and tea, as well as fresh cherries. The palate is complex and compact, with tightwound black cherry and raspberry fruit as well as firm tannic structure. Such concentration and depth here: this is massively structured yet really refined. An exciting wine. 95/100
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