Ah, Rioja. The Spanish wine D.O.Ca. (Or Qualified Designation of Origin," the highest category in Spanish wine regulation) is of course best known for its Tempranillo-based expressions, evidence suggests that grape cultivation in the region began with the ancient Phoenicians and Celtiberians. The oldest written record of wine in La Rioja appears in an 873 document from the San Millán Public Notary, detailing a donation to the San Andrés de Trepeana Monastery.

As in many Mediterranean areas during the Middle Ages, monasteries played a pivotal role in La Rioja's winemaking tradition, with monks actively involved in cultivating vineyards and promoting the region's wines.

The ex-monastery grounds of Baron De Ley. Note that the bell is featured on all its bottles. 

Of the many producers there that have made headlines in the wine world, Baron De Ley certainly has been mentioned quite a few times! 

While the winery that we know today was founded relatively recently in 1985, the history behind its grounds certainly isn't. In fact, the winery itself is housed in an old monastery first constructed by the Count of Eguía in the year 1548.

Well, it wasn't exactly meant to be a monastery. You see, the count was quite bothered with militants in the area that could at any time cause him quite a headache. As such, he built the 1,000 hectare estate with the intention of making it his own castle-fortress.

The Count of Eguía

Some time passed and soon the Count found that he no longer had to contend with the notion of being dragged out from his bed in the middle of the night. The fabled grounds, built to the style of a fortress, would eventually change hands to the Benedictine monks, which themselves exchanged the Castle of Monjardín with the Count. As it turns out, the estate provided a favorable grazing land for flocks of sheep that the monks were raising for wool production.

However, in 1836 a period of turmoil between the Church and the State saw the grounds taken from the monks, and instead awarded to one General Martín Zurbano. In 1844, political instability compelled the General into exile. Shortly thereafter, he suffered a significant loss – the estate, along with all his lands – in an unfortunate gamble against a French Count. Unable to catch a break, he was then executed by members of his former political party.

Talk about a bad year.

The rather unfortunate General Martín Zurbano. (Image Source: Wikipedia)

The Frenchman that now owned his lands, however, turned out to have no desire to own property outside of his homeland, and so relinquished any and all claim to the estate. It ultimately fell into the hands of one Colonel Muro, the administrator overseeing Zurbano's debts. 

Following Muro's death, his widow sold the estate to the Jiménez family. They owned it for three generations, initiating agricultural development by introducing livestock and diversifying farming practices. In the mid-20th century, the Sanz-Pastors acquired the estate, becoming the final private owners before its transformation into Baron de Ley Rioja.

Which brings us to the winery and estate we know today. In 1985, Baron de Ley was founded by a group of four Rioja wine professionals, which styled it as a vineyard-focused winery inspired by the French châteaux style wines. Fun fact: "De Ley" is a Spanish expression that means "legit"!

In 2008, Baron De Ley expanded their aging capabilities with a new cellar accommodating up to 30,000 casks. (Image Source: Baron De Ley)

By 1990, the first vintages were ready for launch in the market, marked by the Barón de Ley Reserva and Gran Reserva, the producer's signature wines to date. Apparently, these were received exceptionally well, and by 1994 there was an increase in production by up to 4 million bottles.

The producer has six vineyards, which reached a whopping total of 600ha by 2008. It's grapes are sourced from places such as Finca Los Almendros (Rioja's largest plot) as well as Finca Carbonera, the highest.

Right, so how do the wines taste?

Let's get stuck in!

Wine Review: Baron de Ley 2019 Rioja Reserva

A 2019 vintage, the average age of the Tempranillo, Graciano and Maturana used within is 25 years old. The grapes used hail from vineyards in the Rioja Oritental subregion, mainly the estates in Mendavia and Los Almendros in Ausejo. It has been aged 18 months in new American-oak casks, and 24 months in the bottle.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Ruby

Aroma: It opens with big confectionary aromas of cherry pie topped with vanilla sauce, milk chocolates, and also some gentle wafts of tobacco leaves. Really juicy and leans riper and sweeter here, decadent and luxurious, yet keeps its freshness.

Taste: Leans sweeter here, still keeping with those confectionaries of cherry pies, stewed prunes, plums, raisins - still very much juicy and brighter toned. It’s medium-bodied and shows also some more spiced and earthy qualities with some black tea tannins, tobacco leaves and cloves that’s coaxed in - almost reminiscent of a mulled wine.

Finish: Clean finish here, some more florals emerge with violets joining in the persistent black tea and dark cherries.

My Thoughts

A nice juicy, spiced Rioja that’s really approachable and lovable! It gives you all those lovely stone fruits, really fresh, somewhat decadent, rather confectionary - but most importantly it doesn’t overdo it! It doesn’t go overly hard on the ripeness and sweetness, nor does it get too dry with the tannins. It’s bouncy, fresh, energetic, youthful - it’s just fun! It’s really easy drinking yet has a good presence and stature to it, and comes off really versatile with even some complexity to it.

Wine Review: Baron de Ley 2017 Rioja Gran Reserva

A blend of Tempranillo and Graciano, the grapes hail from the winery's old vineyards in Cenicero, in Rioja Alta. The wine is aged for a minimum of 24 months in American and French oak casks, and for another 36 months in-bottle. 

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Ruby

Aroma: Palpable depth here, there’s still that confectionary aspect with big aroma of cherry pies, dark cherry jams and stewed plums, all topped with vanilla sauce with a side of milk chocolates. It holds the same profile yet here it’s expressed with more depth and leans towards darker tones and more heady aromas.

Taste: Medium-bodied here, coming in rich and decadent with those stewed prunes, plums, raisins, stone fruit baked confectionaries, seasoned with some cloves too. There’s an aromatic earthiness of tobacco leaves here as well, along with a subtle dryness of black tea. The richness, whilst concentrated, shows good restraint with the tannins keeping it in check and providing a counterweight with some aromatic earthiness. Really nice autumnal quality to the darker stone fruit tones.

Finish: Really nice dryness that picks up here - more black tea, tobacco leaves, along with some roses even. Those stone fruits take a more dried quality here, with dried prunes and raisins.

My Thoughts

Quite the stunner here - it evolves really nicely from its aromas to the palate and into the finish, starting off with more juicy and confectionary fruit jams, yet on to the palate some of the dried earthiness begins to balance that out, with some aromatic black tea tannins and tobacco leaves, this only picks up into the finish where the balance shifts towards the dried earthiness and dried stone fruits. There’s that really nice progression where it goes from sweeter, juicier fruitiness that increasingly gains a more dry earthiness as it moves along. That all gives the wine alot of elegance and presence in my opinion which I find very impressive.

Wine Review: Baron de Ley 2019 Finca Monasterio

A blend of Tempranillo and other undisclosed varieties, the grapes were grown in the estate surrounding the producer's Benedictine Monastery. The vineyard was planted in 1985. The wine is aged for 18 months in new French-oak barrels, and then for a further 6 months in 10,000-litre French-oak foudres.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Ruby

Aroma: It’s immediately more floral and perfumed - big on those roses and violets, a little bit of freshly tilled soil to go along with it, expanding out and deepening with more of those plums and prunes. It’s incredibly aromatic and vibrant, with much less of that confectionary quality here.

Taste: Really supple and plush richness here, it’s velvety and satin in texture, medium-bodied, encompassing more of that floral aspect with bouquets of roses that garnish the body filled in with prunes, plums, blackberries, cassis. Still a subtle and finely grained interweaved layer of tannins that comes through as some black tea.

Finish: Clean, a gentle dryness of black tea, more of those florals with bouquets of roses, along with some prunes to go with it.

My Thoughts

This comes off really refined and elegant - those bouquets of roses definitely help with that! It’s almost perfumed and feels more delicate and aromatic. Yet it also conveys this sort of rustic purity with some soil that comes through as well. Here there’s not much of that confectionary quality, the fruits feel almost just harvested and much more naturalistic. The body too comes in this supple and plush richness that’s velvety and makes balance look so easily achieved. It has this almost satin like texture that carries so harmoniously those florals and darker orchard fruits and berries. It’s given a really neat structure with this woven fabric of black tea tannins that are fine and understated too. It finishes off really nicely and clean, quite masterfully really, gentle yet seamless. A really, really lovely Rioja!

*Suspiciously racoon-like noises*

Contributed by @Definitelynotthreeracoons