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
Super rich dark fruit flavor #wsjwine #coronavino — 5 years ago
Lovely soft flavours with rich grape overtones — 6 years ago
Great champagne blend with sharp bubbles and toasted caramel notes. Some green apple. Excellent especially at $25. — 7 years ago
Amazing bouquet at a great price. Wanted to buy more but alas..no mas — 8 years ago
Lightly flor aged nose (touch of nuttiness), very broad palate with stone fruits intertwined with a touch of flor aged notes, great balance — 10 years ago
Very lush and superb! — 13 years ago
What beautiful wine. The secondary fruit notes are coming through, some dried fruit, more body. This is still an insanely austere wine. Sea shells, lemons, apples, chamomile, flowers, more apples, orange blossom. It’s just so much better with the fruit tasting older. So glad I experienced this over a few years to see how champagne evolves. 2015 harvest, disgorged jun 2019, no dosage. — 6 months ago
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
Stephens day tipple... Beautiful — 5 years ago
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
Golden raisins, boytaris funk, dried pineapple. On the lighter side for Sauternes, but super enjoyable. Tropical and candied lemon. — 7 years ago
Worth every penny! — 9 years ago
Smokey nice with Ribeye — 10 years ago
Un infanticidio terrible. El próximo dentro de 20 años. — 10 years ago
Great with moules frites! — 12 years ago
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
10 is all i can say — 2 years ago
Great balance. Superb — 5 years ago
Green apple, pear, hay, sweet, sparkling, grape. — 6 years ago
Juicy and still with plenty of life. This is drinking perfectly.
— 7 years ago
Excellent second label from Château Fonplegade! Earthly, plum, spice, with licorice, coffee, tea, and tobacco notes.... I love how this wine is intense but still fairly elegant. The tannins are perfect enough to still be velvety on the palate while still delivering a nice long finish. This is the wine that brings me back to St. Emilion walking the cobblestone streets and the magnificent view from Château du Roy. Oh how I miss France...... Santè! — 8 years ago

A fantastic wine , amazing nose and good palate. Best paired with a oven baked dorado from Ligurian sea. — 10 years ago
Bright clean nose with hints of pineapples. Really great wine — 10 years ago
Decanted. Fantastic. — 12 years ago
Ivor
Great wine combining southern burgundy richness, use of luxurious oak, great acidity and low alc levels. Wonder how this ages.. Tx @Jan A for pointing this one out!. — 5 months ago