Tenute San Leonardo Terre Merlot Carmenere
Country: Italy Region: Trentino Vintage: 2021
Varietal: Merlot Carmenere Category: Red Wine
Color: Red
Producer: Tenute San Leonardo
Tenuta San Leonardo is widely acknowledged as the top winery in Trentino, producing some of the most consistent wine in Italy. Terre is a more youthful version of the critically acclaimed ‘San Leonardo’ wine (known by critics as the “Sassicaia of the North”).
The Terre blend includes a higher percentage of Merlot (40% compared to 10% in the San Leonardo) alongside Cabernet Sauvignon (50%) and Carmenère (10%). Only 20% of the wine is exposed to oak barrels with the remaining 80% matured in concrete vats for freshness. At this price point, the wine compares favourably to a warm vintage Pomerol or Saint-Émilion: full of spicy ripe plum and roasted herbs.
What the critics say:
"Always a pleasure on the nose, the 2019 Terre di San Leonardo wafts up with crushed raspberry, bay leaf, sage and white pepper aromas. This glides across the the palate, silky and refined, with a lively mix of mineral-tinged red fruits and licorice. It finishes classically dry, yet fresh, with lingering wild berries and pretty inner florals. There's a lovely alpine feel to the 2019, a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 10% Carmenere."
"The Grand Vin of this estate has been voted finest wine in Italy for two years running and this – made with the same care and attention but from the younger vines – is an undervalued corker."
