The winery is located in the municipality of Torrelavit in the Spanish DO area of Penedès (Catalonia). It was founded in 1964 by the legendary Spaniard Jean León (1928-1997). He was born Ceferino Carrión in Santander, packed his suitcase at the age of 19 and, after Paris, New York and a trip through the USA, landed in Hollywood, where he opened the legendary restaurant "La Scala" in Beverly Hills together with James Dean (1931-1955). The restaurant developed into a meeting place for film stars and celebrities from film, business and politics. Jean León knew five US presidents. In 1962, Richard Nixon (1913-1994) stayed with him the night he lost the election. With John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) he often talked about Spain. And with Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) he shared a passion for good wines. Finally, in the early 1960s, León decided to create an extraordinary wine. He travelled the world in search of an exceptional soil. He found it in the heart of Penedès. In 1995, the winery was taken over by the Spanish family business Torres. Today it is run by Miguel A. Torres' daughter Mireia Torres.
The vineyards were acquired in 1963 by combining various carefully selected plots. The property consists of 150 hectares in total, of which only 100 are cultivable and of which 67 are currently in production. The vineyards are located on a slightly south-facing slope in the centre of the Penedès area at 280 to 310 metres above sea level. They are protected from the north winds and the possible frosts in winter and spring. Jean León also broke new ground in terms of grape varieties. He acquired vines of the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay varieties from well-known French wineries such as Château Lafite-Rothschild and Château La Lagune. At that time, these varieties were still absolutely exotic or unknown in the Penedès. The Jean León winery was finally designed in 1964 in the style of a Bordeaux château and built on a high site.
The oenologist Jaume Rovira equipped the estate with the ultimate technical achievements and defined the most demanding quality criteria. Fermentation is temperature-controlled in stainless steel tanks. The wine is matured in a vaulted cellar with a capacity of up to 3,000 barriques made of French and American oak. Among others, the international varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Petit Verdot, as well as the indigenous Xarello and Sumoll are cultivated. The vineyards are divided into four plots or sites - so-called Vinos de Finca. These are Viña La Scala, Viña Le Havre, Viña Gigi and Viña Palau. single vineyards The best Vino de Finca is considered to be the eight-hectare Viña La Scala, whose poor, clayey and chalky soil yields less than one kg of grapes or just under one bottle of wine.
The flagship of the house is the red wine "Cabernet Sauvignon Gran Reserva". It is blended from 85% Cabernet Sauvignon from the La Scala vineyard and 15% Cabernet Franc, matured for two years in new French barriques and then aged for another three years in the bottle. It is only produced in climatically special vintages, which included 1979, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012. The annual production is 18,000 to 35,000 bottles and a limited number of Impériale large bottles with a volume of 6 litres. Since the 2011 vintage, there is also the Jean Leon "3055" line, named after Jean Leon's taxi licence number when he drove a taxi in New York in addition to his work. The 3055 line is made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir (Rosé) and Merlot/Petit-Verdot. In addition, Mireia Torres and her team have launched a new line "Experimental Wines" since the 2015 vintage. These wines are produced in very limited editions (about 2,000 bottles) from the grape varieties Xarello, Cabernet Franc and Sumoll.
