San Leonardo 2018

60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Carmenère, 10% Merlot. This wine is likely to have the broadest drinking window of any modern San Leonardo. Despite the deep purple colour, it is already open and generous on the nose, with vivid ripe morello cherry fruit. The gentle extraction has imbued the wine with a cashmere texture even at this young stage, while the palate is lifted by the leafy, currant-bud notes that are San Leonardo’s signature, reflecting as they do the influence of cool air flowing down from the Dolomites. Balance, charm, and great ageing potential, this San Leonardo has it all.


Ideal weather conditions and a strict selection from older vines have yielded a classic San Leonardo of sublime balance. After the numerous challenges affecting the vineyards in 2017, the San Leonardo team hoped for an easier ride the following year. Their prayers were answered at every stage of the growing season, starting with a prolonged cold winter that killed off bugs which would otherwise attack leaves, flowers and grapes later in the year. There was also copious snow, turning to rain throughout spring, which replenished missing ground water. Flowering was perfect, and summer passed with much more sunlight than 2017, but without any extremes of temperature. Then September saw very large thermal differences between day and night – “the secret to incredible perfume” according to owner Anselmo Guerrieri Gonzaga. The grapes were harvested in the cold of October, further enhancing the aromatic freshness as well as helping fix a beautiful colour. Balance-wise, the result harks back to pre-climate change vintages, with all the flavour benefits of a lengthy growing season but still just 13% alcohol. Despite the propitious weather, the quantity made remains below average, due to recent replantings being excluded from the blend.
Harvest began on October 1st and finished on October 18th with the last of the pergola-trained Carmenère.