Sign In

2012 Benjamin Rothschild & Vega Sicilia Macan

Not Currently In Auction

Latest Sale Price

September 24, 2023 - $71

Estimate

RATINGS

94Wine Enthusiast

...smells of raspberry, plum, char and tar. The mouthfeel is chunky, rich and deep, with manageable tannins. Blackberry, mocha, char, clove and chocolate flavors announce generous oak, while the finish is spicy, peppery, toasty and ripe.

93+ The Wine Advocate

...very good moment of its evolution, where the oak seems better integrated, still keeping its primary flavors, with very good balance and polished tannins...

93Vinous / IWC

Intensely perfumed aromas of ripe, oak-spiced black and blue fruits, vanilla, incense and pungent flowers, along with smoky mineral and pipe tobacco notes. Broad, fleshy and sweet, offering pliant blueberry, cherry-vanilla and mocha flavors...displaying impressive finishing definition and smooth tannins that add closing grip to the wine's densely packed, sweet fruit.

90Wine Spectator

Licorice and graphite notes frame black cherry and dried herb flavors in this polished red...balanced, with harmony and depth.

17.5Jancis Robinson

Tannins are much thicker here... Very dry compact texture and far less open on the palate than on the nose.

REGION

Spain, Rioja

Rioja Demoninación de Origine Calificada is Spain’s most important wine region. Located in northern Spain, it comprises 135,000 vineyard acres and was the first official appellation in Spain, earning its official DO status in 1926. In 1991 it became Spain’s first DOCa, Spain’s most prestigious appellation category. The DOCa is divided into three subzones: La Rioja Alavesa in the northeast; La Rioja Alta in the southwest; and La Rioja Baja in the east. About 75 percent of Rioja wines are reds, with Tempranillo the predominant grape. Garnacha (Grenache), Mazuelo (Carignan) and Graciano, a spicy, high-acidity red grape, are also allowed. White wines are made from Macabeo, Garnacha Blanca and Malvasia. Wines were made in this region well before the Romans arrived, though the Romans then the medieval monks refined vineyard management and wine production. In the 19th century French families migrated to Rioja after phylloxera wiped out their vineyards, and the French helped establish the tradition of wine blends, still part of Rioja winemaking. According to the rules for the appellation, a wine labelled a simple Rioja can spend less than a year in an oak aging barrel. A Criziana is aged for at least two years, one in oak. Rioja Reserva is aged at least three years, with at least one in oak. A Rioja Gran Reserva must be aged at least five years, with two years in oak.