Tenuta San Leonardo, San Leonardo, 2011 - Half-bottle
Tenuta San Leonardo, San Leonardo, 2011 - Half-bottle
- 37.5cl
- 13.5%
- Red Still
- Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Merlot
Please allow 4-7 working days for duty-paid delivery of this wine.
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Optimal drinking window: Now - 2030
After banging the drum for the Guerrieri Gonzaga family’s remarkable (and remarkably consistent) Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend for the last fifteen years, we relish each new endorsement and instance of critical appreciation and Jancis’ is the just the latest in a long line of articles from major critics. As a reminder...
The wines of San Leonardo are more akin to Bordeaux than Bolgheri with their balance and purity and (said the late and greatly respected Italian specialist Nicolas Belfrage) "can have an elegance-cum-depth capable of taking on the best clarets of the world". Jancis clearly agrees, noting latterly the wine’s “astoundingly consistent quality” and how each vintage is “beautifully low-key and like the most refined red bordeaux imaginable”, determining it is "Surely the most successful Bordeaux blend of Northern Italy”.
The Wine Advocate’s Monica Larner calls it “… one of the great wines of Italy… Sassicaia and San Leonardo seem like brothers separated in childhood” after James Suckling had previously made the comparison referring to San Leonardo as “The Sassicaia of the North”. The comparison is more than skin deep as San Leonardo’s owner Marchese Carlo Guerrieri Gonzaga, a rare example (at the time) of a professionally-trained aristocrat-oenologist, spent time at Tenuta San Guido back in the 1960s helping create Sassicaia with legendary consultant, Giacomo Tachis, whom he subsequently employed at his own estate. The estate has received the top ‘Tre Bicchiere’ rating from Gambero Rosso for an unprecedented seventeen vintages, and has twice been voted by aggregate Italy’s top wine release of the year (jointly with Sassicaia, to continue the comparison).
Antonio Galloni weighs in saying “The Guerrieri Gonzaga’s are one of the great families of Italian wine. Over the years, the Guerrieri Gonzaga’s have produced a number of stellar Bordeaux-influenced reds at San Leonardo, many of which I have had the privilege to taste.” Meanwhile his colleague at Vinous, Eric Guido, after a 28-vintage vertical, says “If you enjoy classic Bordeaux, if you enjoy the energy and verve of Italian wine, and if you crave experiencing history in a bottle, then you should seek out Tenuta San Leonardo”. He also concludes “I frankly don’t remember the last time I found so much pleasure in tasting for hours on end”.
"One of my personal favourite Italian wines, unquestionably the top winery in the region and renowned as one of the most consistent – stylistically and qualitatively – in the whole of Italy, YET its wines remain extremely well-priced by comparison to more widely publicised names."
Tom Harrow, Honest Grapes Wine Director
What the critics say:
"Dense, glowing ruby. High toned but with apparent very ripe fruit underneath. Let’s see… Yes, this is beautifully composed and just ready to enjoy. Dry but not drying and deliciously savoury. Great balance and length."
"The 2019 opens with the most gorgeous, complex fragrance of sage, menthol and clove, slightly creamy black berries, damp earth and spice. In the mouth it's really intense, textured and precise; a core of ripe black berries and some red fruit touches, framed by wood, tobacco and fine, supple tannins. There's a ferrous, saline vein coursing through the centre, and it reaches a lingering finish showcasing sapid dark berries, balsamic herbs and gentle spice, evolving into fresh and dried cherry as it strides away into the sunset. Generous yet beautifully poised, this is among the finest vintages of Tenuta San Leonardo so far."
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