I first came across this wine at a Tesco press tasting and it was one of those wines that immediately stood out. I was interested to see whether a full bottle at home would live up to that first impression.
This 2021 vintage is made from 100% Tempranillo by Barón de Ley. It spends 20 months ageing in French and American oak, followed by a further 16 months in bottle, and finishes at 14% abv.
This is the real deal. It is estate bottled, with DOCa Rioja prohibiting bulk bottling, and it comes from a renowned producer with a strong track record. It also has an IWSC Silver Medal with a score of 90 points.
My experience at home was very similar to what I found at the tasting. It is very enjoyable without any airing at all, but I would still give it at least 15 minutes if you can. An hour is even better, by which point it develops an extremely agreeable aroma and feels that bit more aromatically open.
It is deep ruby in colour, and starts with blackberry, black plum, liquorice, cedar and clove. As it opens up, dried fruit and tobacco begin to emerge as well. In the mouth, there is a lovely depth of cherry flavour, with the oak running through the wine. It is dry, medium to full-bodied, with medium tannins and finishes long with a distinctly cedary character. I actually enjoyed it a lot with a rich beef lasagne. The food softened the tannins nicely and made the whole thing feel even more rounded. It is also an excellent ‘next-day’ wine, even better once it has had even more time to air.
At £10.75, it is excellent value. At £8.06, when Tesco runs its occasional 25% off a mixed six bottles, or sometimes three or more Finest wines, the value becomes almost ridiculous. It is hard to think of many wines offering this much flavour, depth and maturity for that sort of money. In some ways, it is almost too good for the price. This is everything that is wrong, for other Rioja producers, and right, for the supermarket consumer, about Rioja Reserva. As I mentioned for The Best of Rioja Tasting, some producers are now choosing not to put Reserva on the label because too many good, low-priced wines are now being released at that level. This is one of them that makes the point very clearly.
The Gran Reserva version is also available from Tesco at £15.25 and, at the same press tasting, I found it slightly better, but this is where the law of diminishing returns starts to come in. For me, the more interesting question is quality for the money, and on that basis the Reserva is exceptionally difficult to compete with. I liked it enough that, with a 25% offer running at the time of review, I went back and bought three more bottles.
