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
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Drinking window: 2022 - 2035
"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
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”.
What the critics say:
"2011 was a 'super dry but not tough vintage,' according to Anselmo Guerrieri Gonzaga. Warm black cherry, currant and pepper scents are followed in the mouth by intense, concentrated bright red and black berries with tangy red-fruit acidity. Complex and savoury notes of black tea, black and white pepper and some leafiness emerge on the mid-palate and linger on the finish. 'My favourite of the last ten years,' says Anselmo - and it's easy to see why."
"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 San Leonardo vineyards sit at around 200 metres above sea level in the Vallagarina, a valley carved by the Adige river in southern Trentino. The soils are a mix of gravel, sand, and glacial moraine deposits — free-draining and mineral-rich, they stress the vines just enough. The climate is alpine by night and Mediterranean by day: warm growing seasons, cool nights, and strong diurnal temperature variation that preserves acidity and keeps the wines from ever feeling heavy. It is this combination — warmth for ripeness, cold for freshness — that gives San Leonardo its particular balance.
San Leonardo is produced as a Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT, a broad indication that covers much of Trentino and Alto Adige and allows producers to work outside the stricter DOC rules. This flexibility was essential for estates like San Leonardo, which were planting international varieties and blending in ways that traditional DOC regulations in the region did not permit. The IGT status carries no stigma here — much as with the Super Tuscans, the wine's reputation long ago outgrew any need for appellation validation. In practice, the Vallagarina sub-zone gives the wine its identity: a cooler, more austere expression of Cabernet than you would find in Tuscany.
The 2011 vintage in Trentino arrived after a growing season that kept producers on their toes. Spring brought adequate rainfall to replenish the soils, followed by a warm, dry summer that allowed the vines to settle into a steady rhythm. September's cooler nights proved crucial, preserving the bright acidity that defines the region's mountain-influenced character whilst allowing flavours to develop fully.
What emerged was a vintage of real charm and drinkability. The Pinot Grigio shows典ical alpine freshness with more substance than usual, whilst the reds—particularly Teroldego and Lagrein—display ripe fruit balanced by that signature mountain minerality. These aren't wines built for decades in the cellar, but rather bottles that reward drinking now until 2024, offering immediate pleasure without sacrificing the crystalline precision that makes Trentino so compelling.
