Freddy R. Troya

9.0

Barón de Ley – Varietales Tempranillo – 2014
Rioja DOCa – Spain 🇪🇸

Overview
A 100% Tempranillo from Rioja’s esteemed Barón de Ley Varietales Collection, crafted to highlight the noble face of the region’s flagship grape. Although structured in a crianza style with a projected drinking window of 10–12 years, opening it in 2025 revealed the wine perched right on the twilight edge of maturity. This is bottle #04400, now showing the soulful evolution that Rioja Tempranillo is famed for.

Aromas & Flavors
Initially faint cherry fruit, now firmly in the tertiary spectrum: leather satchel, dried rosemary, forest floor, and faint cigar box. Gentle hints of balsamic and dried fig linger in the background.

Mouthfeel
Medium-bodied with softened, polymerized tannins. Acidity remains fresh enough to carry the wine, but fruit presence has largely faded, leaving savory and earthy notes to dominate.

Food Pairings
A fine match for aged Manchego cheese, braised lamb shank, mushroom-stuffed peppers, or even a rustic stew where earthy and herbal notes harmonize.

Verdict
This Tempranillo no longer plays its youthful cherry trumpet but rather resonates like the old violin sound of Rioja—mellow, textured, and contemplative. A fascinating study in maturity, best enjoyed with reflection rather than exuberance.

Did You Know?
Rioja wines are often classified not just by grape but by aging designations (Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva). This bottle leaned into crianza timing, showing beautifully at first but demonstrating how Tempranillo gracefully transitions from fruit-driven vibrancy to complex tertiary elegance. — 7 months ago

Martinez

9.0

Field blend of Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Beurot, Muscat and Pinot Noir from the Engelgarten, a vineyard with poor, gravelly soils located just outside the walls of Bergheim (about 10 miles north of Colmar, in the Haut Rhin). Pure, expressive nose with notes of citrus, rubber and minerals. Intense, dry, textured. Slightly ripe. Long, saline finish. — 4 years ago

Eoin Danaher

9.0

Stephens day tipple... Beautiful — 5 years ago

Daryl

9.0

Enjoyed it. Light and sweet without being cloying. Got from the wine store at Chinatown Point. — 6 years ago

Mitali P

9.1

Love this! — 6 years ago

Natalie Griffin

9.4

Great champagne blend with sharp bubbles and toasted caramel notes. Some green apple. Excellent especially at $25. — 7 years ago

Kim Brater

9.0

Delish! Great Alsatian white stone fruit. Supple. Good moth feel. Yummy. — 8 years ago

Lauren

9.3

NYE 2017 bubbles in Asheville — 9 years ago

Angel Martinez

Brand ambassador GHMumm Spain, Wine reviewer www.theluxury.es"

9.1

Un infanticidio terrible. El próximo dentro de 20 años. — 10 years ago

Annette Franklin

9.4

Great again from Loire region. — 11 years ago

Roberto Carli

9.3

Great bang for the buck. Yeasty savory bread, macerated peach, overripe/candied pineapple, and a long creamy mouthfeel with fine perlage. An expressive ripe style that is very well executed for the price point  — a year ago

Ebi Obaidi

10

10 is all i can say — 2 years ago

James Fattaleh

9.1

Balanced and light, very nice. — 2 years ago

Joanne Frette

8.9

Gently sparkling, full of golden apple, red apple a touch of honey and brioche notes. — 5 years ago

Chris MacLean

9.3

Perfect balance of savory flavors and fruit. Nice persistence. Tough to find flaws here. — 6 years ago

with Sarah

Peter Coulthard

8.9

Waitrose. Liked it. Fruity raisin taste after double aerating. Slightly drying aspect on the palate. Decent — 6 years ago

Ryan Vento

9.0

Summer fresh strawberries, garden fresh roses, grapefruit, spiced tangerines. Been a while since I’ve had Crémant - fresh, vibrant, and good with sushi — 7 years ago

with Krystal

Renee Chevalier

10

Thank you for sharing this great wine Martin Rivard — 9 years ago

Paul Lewis

9.5

A fantastic wine , amazing nose and good palate. Best paired with a oven baked dorado from Ligurian sea. — 10 years ago

Mitrich

9.7

Очень хорошо. — 11 years ago

Ely Cohn

9.1

Honey nectar where time has carved out concrete smoothed smokey cool aromas of grilled pineapple and canned apricot.

Sweet and weighs like a brick, thick with nuance to sift through. Yellow peach, burnt popcorn, green coriander, lychee last to say goodnight — a year ago

Joy Hammons

9.7

Excellent! It took very little time to breathe which was unexpected for a 2011. We will be buying more of this if we can find it. — 2 years ago

Hollie

9.2

2018 Vintage - Megan's new house! Notes: mineralogy, honeysuckle, apple, saline, bread? — 5 years ago

Ian Thompson

9.4

Light. Dry but with touch of sweetness. — 5 years ago

Damon Lee Carter

9.0

Lovely soft flavours with rich grape overtones — 6 years ago

Ryan Foxley

9.3

This 2016 was gifted to me at a meal I was hosting. Beautifully presented bottle and a Very pleasant, well balanced wine with great aromas. This paired really well with roasted beef. — 7 years ago

Lindsey King

9.0

Candied ginger, carrot and carrot peel, little spice and loads of florality. Grippy but mouth watering but heated too! Eccentric wine! — 8 years ago

Ray Vanderhoff

8.9

Good fruit and mineral notes. Strong value! Good thirst quencher! — 9 years ago

Liz McNeal

9.5

Smokey nice with Ribeye — 10 years ago

First Last

9.2

About me: I prefer light or medium bodied, semi-sweet, soft/smooth, fruity nose, weak or medium flavor, clean finish. Don't care for very sweet, acidic, dry, crisp, oaky, bitter, peppery, tannic, strong, heavy. Usually don't eat when I drink wine. Rating only reflects my preference.

Review: Opens creamy, quite sweet with pronounced cherry flavor. Followed by some oak (though it's prepared in steel drums) and very mild bitterness. Finish slightly mineral with mild cherry. Reminds me of port. Bought a case. — 10 years ago