2013 Tenuta San Leonardo San Leonardo Vigneti Delle Dolomiti 750 ml

Some of Bordeaux’s stiffest competition comes from Tuscany, which is why the world-class San Leonardo Vigneti Delle Dolomiti—a northern Italian Bordeaux-style blend that Wine Advocate calls one of the “greatest wines of Italy”—remains under the radar. But the 96-point 2013 didn’t escape ours, and that’s why you’ll find it on Wine Access—at an incredible price.

Aged longer than any Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux, the 2013 is garnet-tawny wine that shows aromatics of cassis and dried cherries, transitioning to an alluring nutmeg-clove and leather spice. On the palate, deep dark fruits are accented with integrated nuances of tobacco, river stones, and morels. It leans toward classic Left Bank Bordeaux, with tons of mineral energy and vitality. 

It’s hard to say what’s brighter: this wine’s present or future. Wine Advocate says the 2013 is a bottle “to keep long (extra long) in your cellar,” but was “surprised by the volume and seamless bouquet that appears this early in the game.” In other words, buy some to enjoy now, and plenty to cellar for later. 

From the outside, La Botte—the tiny wine bar that has sat at the entrance of Tenuta San Leonardo—doesn’t seem to have changed much in sixty years. It’s got wooden tables sitting on top of used barrels, tourists pulling in on Moto Guzzis, and the dramatic Dolomite mountains looming above. But inside the rustic tavern is a gleaming row of Enoteca wine dispensers, pouring a half-dozen library vintages of San Leonardo, which has taken home the prestigious Tre Bicchieri award a staggering 13 times in the last two decades. Needless to say, we made a beeline. 

We’d long had our eye on San Leonardo, which Master of Wine Jancis Robinson calls “Trentino’s first growth,” but it’s notoriously hard to get stateside—which is why we knew we had to go straight to the source and stop in at the (literally) aristocratic estate. Once we got lost in the stunning aromas and flavors of back vintages of San Leonardo that were showing like Grand Cru Bordeaux, coming home without an allocation wasn’t an option. It was a must. Fortunately, that visit to the winery paid off exactly how we hoped it would. 

The land of Tenuta San Leonardo had a proud history, long before the first wine was made. The Gresti family purchased it in 1770, and a century later, built the stunning house, called Villa Gresti. During WWI, Gemma de Gresti won a Gold Medal from the International Red Cross for repatriating 11,000 citizens who had been held prisoner in Russia. In 1918, the preliminary armistice that precipitated the end of the war was signed at Villa Gresti. 

The estate’s wine history began in the late Fifties, when Marchese Carlo Gonzaga, Gemma de Gresti’s grandson, started studying enology (and opened La Botte). It should be no surprise that his is the wine that threatens to topple the Super Tuscans: His cousin is Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, founder of Tenuta San Guido, which producers the legendary Sassicaia. Rocchetta believed so firmly in the potential of San Leonardo that, in the winery’s early years,he offered the services of his famed oenologist Giacomo Tachis. In 1999, the reins were handed to Carlo Ferrini, the man behind Fonterutoli, Brancaia, Talenti, Podere Giodo, and Romitorio, whom Wine Spectator has hailed as “one of Tuscany’s greatest winemakers.”

At San Leonardo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, and Merlot grapes grow on 20-50-year-old vines, which are shielded from cold northern winds by the Dolomites, and enjoy the warmth coming off of Lake Garda. After beginning maturation in cement tanks, the separate varieties undergo an aging regimen that surpasses even the greats of Bordeaux: 24 months in barrique before blending, followed by another 24 in bottle.

When we drank the past vintages in La Botte, we glimpsed the future of the 2013. It’s drinking beautifully now, and will only improve over coming decades. We recommend securing enough to enjoy it both ways.