San Leonardo 2016
The Magnificent San Leonardo Estate
Nestled away in the Dolomites you will find this amazing estate. A special microclimate gives these wines both freshness and ripeness. Cool Alpine nights preserve acidity, whilst warm afternoon winds from Lake Garda encourage ripening. This does however mean that they need time in bottle to become approachable. With bottle age, they emerge as being among Italy’s most elegant wines.
Anselmo Guerrieri Gonzaga of Tenuta San Leonardo:
‘Alto Adige to the north of us has wonderful wines that fetch good prices, with high quality driven by village co-ops, but the same isn’t really true here. As every grower needs to be rewarded, there’s little incentive to push up quality. Yet the potential here is amazing: we have beautiful soils, clean water, and a perfect climate with warm days and cool nights. But Trentino is little known, and that holds it back.’
On the estate, the family has always grown international varieties. Carmenère, planted initially in the mid-1800s, is the true soul of San Leonardo wines - it gives character and identity to San Leonardo. Merlot, here since the early 1900s, gives the wine its roundedness and smooth texture. Cabernet Sauvignon, finally, which Marchese Carlo planted in 1978, provides structure and elegance. The final blend is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Carmenère, 10% Merlot.
‘We’ve persisted with Carmènere as it’s the fingerprint of San Leonardo,’ adds Anselmo. It’s the variety that’s linked to our land. It has a strong character that somehow combines elegance with a slight rusticity.’
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San Leonardo 2016
Tenuta San Leonardo,
Vigneti Delle Dolomiti, Trentino Alto Adige
£280 per 6 bottles IB at Seckford
Drink from 2024
Eric Guido Vinous (94-96) pts
Tasting date: June 2020
Deep, dark and sensual, the 2016 Tenuta San Leonardo lifts from the glass with an alluring mix of crushed blackberry and plum. With time it blossoms further to reveal tobacco, brown spice, white smoke and peppery florals. It's velvety and wonderfully textural, yet also energized by a complex mix of stimulating acids and minerals, giving life to ripe fruits, as youthful tannins slowly clamp down. The finish is incredibly long and structured. There’s energy and verve, mixing black raspberry with hints of licorice under an air of purple-tinged flowers. The 2016 has a lot to like, quite primary today but a year away from release. This early preview, which has been bottled for a year now, is full of potential. Very nice!
The San Leonardo estate is a garden of vineyards and roses, protected by the massive barrier of the Alps, which blunt the force of the cold northern winds, while the valley floor benefits from, and in turn releases, warmth from nearby Lake Garda. The tenuta remains an antique world, in which winemaking practices, still uncompromisingly artisanal, yield wines that are true gems of Italy’s wine tradition, marked by freshness, harmony, and an innate elegance.