Over the years, I’ve relied on Tenuta San Leonardo’s flagship red wine to (a) flummox the experts, (b) challenge the skeptics, and (c) make me look good. No one who tries this Italian benchmark can deny its breed, depth, and more-than-passing resemblance to classic Right Bank Bordeaux.
The hurdle has always been to get past its somewhat obscure region of origin and use of so-called “French” grapes (despite their long history in northeastern Italy). This is an estate I’ve been fascinated with since I visited it and met its elegant proprietor, Marchesi Carlo Guerreri Gonzaga, way back in 2000. He may have been the first Italian nobleman I ever met, and I’ve got to say, he wore it well; the wines and the estate, meanwhile, were magnificent, and they’ve delivered time and again in the many years since. They should be better known, and I’m here to do my part: Today we have a small parcel from a great back vintage (2011), and can offer up to six bottles to anyone shrewd enough to add this supremely elegant, Cabernet-driven gem to their cellar. San Leonardo has familial and stylistic connections to the original “Super Tuscan,” Sassicaia, but doesn’t cost anywhere near as much. It’s every bit as noble, though—that I can assure you!
Essentially a self-contained village, its assorted buildings a bright ochre-yellow, San Leonardo was once a monastery. The property came into the Guerreri Gonzaga family’s hands in the 19th century, and had always included wine growing among its varied agricultural activities. Carlo Guerreri Gonzaga inherited it in 1974, and, with a diploma from a Swiss enology school in hand, started getting more serious about wine; among other things, he visited with his cousins at Tenuta San Guido, in Tuscany, learning from legendary winemaker Giacomo Tachis. Taking a cue from Sassicaia, Carlo’s model for San Leonardo developed along French châteaux lines: local varieties such as Marzemino and Teroldego were replaced with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and the “lost” Bordeaux variety, Carmenère (which is found in assorted pockets of the Veneto, Trentino, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia). Tachis, one of the most famous Italian winemakers to ever live, was recruited to assist in shaping the San Leonardo style. The first vintage of this new vin de châteaux was 1982 (not incidentally a landmark Bordeaux vintage). These days, Carlo’s son, Anselmo, has taken the reins and become a regular visitor to the US market to promote the estate’s expanding range of wines—which includes an assortment of excellent ‘second’ wines to support this flagship ‘first.’
Although the overall property spans more than 700 acres, about 75 are dedicated to viticulture, which, again, bears some resemblance to Bordeaux: San Leonardo is at a modest elevation, about 150 meters, on rolling, open slopes in the Adige River valley. Soils are sand and gravel (i.e. “alluvial”), with plenty of heat generated in what is essentially a deep basin walled in by Dolomites. While the blend for San Leonardo varies slightly from year to year, it typically comes in around 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Cabernet Franc/Carmenère, and 10% Merlot. Vines range in age from 10-30 years, and the wine spends 2 years aging in French oak barriques (about a third new) and at least 18 months in bottle before release.
The 2011 San Leonardo is just starting to blossom aromatically but is still unwinding on the palate. In the glass, it’s a nearly opaque garnet red moving to crimson at the rim, with no signs of bricking just yet. Structurally and stylistically, this resembles old-school Right Bank Bordeaux—what the British used to call “claret”—with earth/mineral aromas occupying the fore and the fruit component ripe but tart and lively. Aromas of black cherry, red plum, blackcurrant, cedar, fresh herbs, green tobacco, menthol (the ‘pyrazine’ notes from the Franc/Carmenère, which I love) and wet clay carry through to the balanced, elegant palate—medium-plus in body, with extremely bright acidity, which suggests to me that there’s lots of positive evolution still ahead of it (10+ years in my opinion). With time open, it broadens and takes on some nice dark chocolate notes.
If you prefer rich, opulent, early-drinking Cabernets this is not your wine; but if you enjoy classically structured wines driven first and foremost by soil character and complex aromatics, this will delight. Decant it about 45 minutes before serving in Bordeaux stems and watch it really shine alongside a modestly sauced, leaner cut of beef. There’s an aristocratic feel to this wine: I really appreciate that. I think you will, too. Enjoy!
