Tenuta San Leonardo San Leonardo 2013

Every story has its dramatic turning-point. Tenuta San Leonardo saw that moment at the end of the 1960s, when Marchese Anselmo Guerrier Gonzaga (1895-1974), agriculturalist and passionate vigneron, passed on to his son Carlo the responsibility of giving a new face to the family farming estate. Quite a few changes then ensued in the Trento-based winery’s vineyards: the traditional pergola system was joined by the Guyot method and by spurred cordon, and Carmenère and Merlot, varieties that had flourished here for decades if not centuries, gained new neighbors, above all Cabernet Sauvignon.

The change that Tenuta San Leonardo underwent was in fact a radical renewal. At first glance,however, nothing seems to have changed from the past, and the estate still looks today like a hortus conclusus relying on the same traditional values as ever. But behind the gate that protects the property there are no longer just fields of grain or corn, no more mulberries for the silkworms. Today, there are grapevines, laid out in accord with the most up-to-date viticultural canons, and the vine-rows speak eloquently of the culture of wine.