Inside Barón de Ley’s new €10m winery and barrel storage facility

Rioja’s Barón de Ley has invested €10 million in a new winery with 64 40,000-litre capacity fermentation tanks and the second largest barrel storage facility in the world, which is capable of holding 30,000 barrels. With the project due to be completed next year, take a look at the progress so far.

With large, ring-shaped lights suspended from the ceilings, Barón de Ley’s impressive €5 million barrel storage facility is nearing completion. Once finished, the building will house 30,000 French and American oak barrels, as well as several concrete tanks with a capacity of 400,000 litres. Barón de Ley spends around €3 million on barrels each year and the new facility and barrel racking line will be capable of racking 50 to 60 barrels in an hour.

The winery has also expanded its bottle storage capacity, with the site now able to store 7.2 million bottles, up from 4.5 million.

Barón de Ley has also installed its first concrete tanks in the fermentation room for its single varietal wines. The winery demolished its existing facilities in January this year, managing to install all of the tanks and processing equipment in time for the harvest.

Technical director of winemaking Mayte Calvo, chief winemaker Gonzalo Rodríguez and international general manager Victor Fuentes showed off the wineries new fermentation tanks. The room now holds 64 40,000 litre self-cleaning vessels with each tank having its own remontage pump. Barón de Ley has also created a lot of space above the tanks in order for the winemaking team to access the vessels from the top as well as the bottom. 

Fuentes explained that the project had been particularly challenging as the business had continued to function as normal, knowing that it had to complete construction of the fermentation room in time for harvest. The barrel storage facility, which will be the second largest in the world, is nearing completion, with a wall needing to be knocked through to join two vast spaces capably of holding 30,000 barrels. As part of the tour, we were able to sample the same Muturana aged in a French oak barrel and an American oak barrel.

The barrel room will also feature a tasting room and kitchen overlooking the Finca Monasteria vineyards.

Adjacent to Baron de Ley’s new winemaking and storage facilities a 16th century monastery, originally constructed by the Count of Eguía in 1548 as a castle-fortress. The fortress and its 1,000 hectare estate then became a Benedictine property, with monks making their own wines and spirits from the estate’s vineyards.

In 1836 the estate was confiscated by the Mendizábal Disentailment, along with much of the property of the Church in Spain. It was subsequently given to General Martín Zurbano in recognition of his war service.

The building is now used by Barón de Ley for its offices as well as for a cellar featuring six French oak foudres used for finishing wines.