San Leonardo Bordeaux Blend 2015

I am reluctant to draw too many conclusions from this sample because it has not yet finished its bottle evolution. San Leonardo is notorious for its long aging requirements, even in a warm and accessible vintage such as this. The 2015 San Leonardo will be officially presented at Vinitaly in 2020 (in April) and will hit foreign markets soon after that. From what we can determine now, this is shaping up to be a beautiful wine with deep inner fruit richness and exuberance. In its current state, the wine is lavish and extremely radiant. I am faithful that great results will follow. Stay tuned... 94-97

Monica Larner, December 28, 2018

Notes of wet tobacco, dried earth, cumin, cedar and dried red plums form the basis of the nose. Structured and serious on the palate with just the right amount of fruit to balance out the backbone of firm tannins. Drink from 2021.

November 9, 2019

Very deep ruby. Herbs, tar and spices complicate ripe blue and black fruit aromas on the nose. Then more austere but classic in its cool-climate Trentino style of Cabernet Sauvignon, cedar, graphite and blueberry flavors. The finish is long and flinty, but this tastes a little lean currently; cellaring will help it show better.

San Leonardo Rosso is a singular northern Italian mountain wine that doesn’t follow any appellation rules. Instead it has been created from the unique vision of two men (Carlo Gonzaga and Giacomo Tachis) that saw the potential of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Carmenere in this unique territory in the Italian Alps). Although San Leonardo produces several wines with its roots delving deep into its centuries-old history, this is the iconic wine of the estate. A classic, aristocratically elegant Bordeaux-style blend that boasts extraordinary aging potential, San Leonardo Rosso was created by the Marquis Carlo Guerrieri Gonzaga in 1982. Coming from the most ancient vineyards on the estate, this is barrel aged in French-oak for 24 months, in new, second and third passage barriques. This wine has unbelievably won the coveted Italian Awards of Tre Bicchieri Gambero Rosso, 21 times!!! 

The story of the San Leonardo estate began over a thousand years ago in the Vallagarina valley in the southern part of Trentino Alto Adige. San Leonardo was originally founded as a monastery in 900 AD and later acquired by the Marquises Guerrieri Gonzaga, who have been the passionate custodians for the last 300 years. The turning point in the estate came about with 1982 harvest when Marchese Carlo decided to create the wine “San Leonardo”, a wine which quickly became famous for its innate elegance, now considered to be a quintessential noble wine of Italy. At San Leonardo, wines are passionately handcrafted in a limited amount of bottles. Wines from here fully express their unique terroir which has its origin in the great mountains surrounding the estate. The red varieties planted are Cabernet sauvignon, Merlot and Carmenère, and the estate uses Certified Organic agricultural methods. There is an overall emphasis on sustainability here, with solar panels, beehives and flowering meadows for the estate's precious bees, and the Monastary vegetable garden is full of medicinal herbs and spices, this is also a place which is a Certified “Friends of Biodiversity” estate. Presence of three soil types: sand and gravel deposits from the Adige river (the river banks), clay, rich in pebbles and alluvial fan (river bed), Dolostone whose limestone component derives from the Lessini Mountains. Wines are created all in a very classic style with major focus on elegance. Perfectly balanced alcohol (around 13%) is a major point, and the red wines are produced only by spontaneous fermentation, no selected yeasts are used. Wines are developed exclusively in concrete tanks. Unfiltered (red wines). Low sulfites used. Extremely long aging and evolution potential.