Vinos en Voz Baja is the husband-and-wife project of Carlos Mazo Gutiérrez, an environmental biologist, and Isa Ruiz Marín, a graphic designer. Both of their families have grown grapes in and around the village of Aldeanueva de Ebro (pop. 2700) for generations, but Carlos and Isa are the first to make and commercialize their own wine. The project began in 2012 with a few barrels. Now, ten years in, production has reached and average of 23,000 bottles per year, and they have built a small winery where the last two vintages were made.

The couple farm a total of six hectares spread over ten plots in the villages of Alfaro, Aldeanueva de Ebro, Autol, Calahorra and Rincón de Soto. If these names are not familiar, it is because the villages lie at the southern end of the Rioja Oriental (née Rioja Baja), a region that has long been branded as second or third class when compared to the Alta and Alavesa districts. This has less to do with the potential of the terroir to produce great wines than it does with history, economic conditions and market trends.

The climate here is markedly more Mediterranean than that of the Alta or Alavesa. One of the main reasons that the region has remained in the shadow of its siblings is that the weather conditions are far less favorable to Tempranillo, a famously short-cycle variety (the word Tempranillo comes from temprano, meaning "early") that thrives in more moderate climes. Whereas Tempranillo reigns supreme in the Alta and Alavesa districts, Garnacha is the main protagonist in the Oriental. Indeed, the reds from Vinos en Voz Baja contain very little Tempranillo or none at all.

"A la vez que heredé las viñas, heredé las costumbres, las liturgias, los códigos, el carácter y las formas de trabajar." - Carlos Mazo

"When I inherited the vines, I inherited the customs, the liturgies, the codes, the character and the ways of working." Carlos says that they don't need to use much imagination with respect to the work in the vineyards - they are the beneficiaries of generational knowledge. The vineyards are old, small parcels of bush trained vines, with the dominant Garnacha sharing space with a bit of Tempranillo, Tinto Velasco and white varieties such as Viura, Calagraño, Tempranillo Blanco and Garnacha Roya (Grenache Gris). The vineyards are certified organic, though the wines are not at the moment. For folks who spend their workdays in the open air, paperwork can often sink to the bottom of the to-do list.

Do not expect to see many experimental cuvées or one-off releases popping up at this address. Carlos and Isa have a very clear idea of the path forward for their project: a compact set of wines, each with its own distinct personality, that comes closer every year to a definitive representation of their terroir.