2016 San Leonardo, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy
Critics reviews
Another year in bottle has added unexpected depths and dimension to the 2016 San Leonardo. It wafts up with an alluring bouquet of smoky black currant and plum skins, complicated by savory herbs, hints of white pepper and fresh tobacco. It's hard chiseled edges have formed into smooth contours now, velvety yet youthfully dense, washing mineral encased dark red and black berries across a core of brisk acidity as a combination of saline-minerals and grippy tannins add tension toward the close.
This finishes incredibly long yet also structured, begging for time in the cellar, as hints of licorice and earth tones grumble under an air of inner violet florals. The potential within the 2016 San Leonardo is off the charts, yet it will require a good amount of time to come fully into focus. Bury your bottles deep.
Drink 2026 - 2040
Eric Guido, Vinous.com (June 2022)
A wine to drink at least 10 years from now, the 2016 San Leonardo is positioned to be enjoyed in the far long term. Like its Tuscan cousin from Bolgheri, Sassicaia, San Leonardo from the mountainous north of Italy is always a wine that starts off quietly but that grows in intensity and complexity as it completes its bottle evolution. This elegant vintage reveals beautiful tones of dark berry fruit, spice and freshly milled white pepper. The wine is exceptionally balanced, fresh and long. I can't wait to come back to this vintage 10 or 20 years from now.
Drink 2026 - 2055
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate (February 2021)
Magnum. Shaded garnet with some evolution at the rim. Really quite bordelais on the nose and palate. The opposite of showy! A light suggestion of dried herbs on the nose. Very good balance. This has come on since I tasted it in January 2021. It's broader and more charming, albeit in a fairly low-key way. But it builds towards a peppery finish. I still wonder whether I wouldn't prefer it with a little less Carmenère. This really unfurls on the palate to build beautifully on the end. It should go beautifully with tonight's shoulder of lamb.
Drink 2022 - 2036
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (March 2022)
A very elegant, classic Bordeaux blend in the Italian context, but this is actually a special wine in any context, thanks to its subtlety and aromatic complexity. Blackcurrant, black-cherry and mint notes with just a hint of red bell pepper. Finely etched, medium-bodied palate with crisp tannins and lively acidity. The elegant tannins carry the long, cool finish.
Drinkable now, but better from 2023.
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (June 2021)
About this WINE
Tenuta San Leonardo
Trentino-Alto-Adige
Formerly part of Austria and known to the locals as Südtirol,Trentino Alto-Adige, Italy’s most northern province, is perhaps an unsurprising source of the country’s crunchiest white wines; they are made from grapes such as Kerner, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Gewurztraminer to suit the thriving tourist market.
The vines cling onto the bare gneiss rocks that line the draughty Brennero pass that links Italy with Austria, and red varieties Schiava and Lagrein are grown on the pockets of porphyry soil found at the heart of the region.
Recommended Producers: Cantina Terlano
Cabernet Sauvignon blend
Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.
In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.
In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and Australia.
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Description
Notes of rich, dark fruits on the nose, intermingled with spice and ripe herbs. Full-bodied and palate-filling in the mouth with loads of dark cherry, cassis and plum notes, a touch of vanilla, summer herbs and hints of tobacco and graphite. Crisp acidity and fine-grained tannins round this off on the long finish. This is a very impressive San Leonardo which will drink well young and age gracefully for decades.
Drink 2023 - 2040
Chris Pollington, Senior Account Manager, Berry Bros. & Rudd
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