MacRobert & Canals

Story

Bryan MacRobert is one of a small, passionate band of Rioja winegrowers rallying for a fresher, elegant, authentic style of wine. He's originally from South Africa, where he was assistant winemaker to Eben Sadie before making his own wines in the Swartland. The first vintage for Laventura was only in 2013, but already the wines are winning some serious plaudits. Bryan is based in Logroño and look after small parcels of old vines, inaccessible to most machinery and ploughed by mule. He eschews American oak, and sometimes eschews oak altogether. And his latest ambition is to shine a light on the single varieties of Rioja and how they behave in different sites, rather than in blends, because he passionately believes the intricate terroir differences inherent to the region are not being celebrated enough. Nowhere is this more evident than in Barranco del San Ginés, one of the first wines to be released according to Rioja's new single vineyard classification, planted in 1935 at an altitude of 600 metres on limestone soils in Rioja Alavesa and now cultivated organically. All things considered these are some of the most exciting - and important - wines to come out of this ultra-traditional region in many a year.