MACROBERT & CANALS, Laventura Garnacha, 6 Bottle Case, 75cl

Floral and expressive, and has contained ripeness, poise and elegance, with red fruit and a light to medium-bodied palate; it feels lean and has fine-grained, chalky tannis.

Bryan MacRobert is one of a passionate and growing band of Rioja winemakers rallying for a fresher, elegant, authentic style. He’s originally from South Africa, where he was Eben Sadie’s assistant winemaker before making his own wines in the Swartland. Bryan has a cellar in Logroño and looks after small parcels of old vines, often inaccessible to most machinery and ploughed by mule. His 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.