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More wines available from Gonzaga San Leonardo
750ml
Bottle:
$76.72
From the moment I tilt the glass, the 2016 Carmenere makes itself known with an intensely spicy and pungently floral...
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$28.32
The 2020 Riesling is more lifted and graceful in style, with a pretty bouquet of lemon oils, minty herbs and hints of...
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The 2011 San Leonardo (Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère and Merlot) is another landmark edition of this celebrated...
375ml
Bottle:
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The 2015 San Leonardo pours forth with a beautiful velvety appearance and sultry dark garnet color. This wine shows a...
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$82.32
The Tenuta San Leonardo 2017 San Leonardo (in a heavy glass bottle) shows subtle but unmistakable generosity and...
More Details
Winery
Gonzaga San Leonardo
Vintage: 2008
2008 saw very high yields across wineries in much of the southern hemisphere, as a result of highly favorable climatic conditions. Although in many areas, these high yields brought with them something of a drop in overall quality, this could not be said for South Australia's wines, which were reportedly excellent. Indeed, the 2008 Shiraz harvest in South Australia is said to be one of the most successful in recent decades, and western Australia's Chardonnays are set to be ones to watch out for. New Zealand's Pinot Noir harvest was also very good, with wineries in Martinborough reportedly very excited about this particular grape and the characteristics it revealed this year.
Pinot Noir also grew very well in the United States, and was probably the most successful grape varietal to come out of California in 2008, with Sonoma Coast and Anderson Valley delivering fantastic results from this grape. Elsewhere in United States, Washington State and Oregon had highly successful harvests in 2008 despite some early worries about frost.
However, it was France who had the best of the weather and growing conditions in 2008, and this year was one of the great vintages for Champagne, the Médoc in Bordeaux, Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence, with Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay grapes leading the way. Italy, too, shared many of these ideal conditions, with the wineries in Tuscany claiming that their Chianti Classicos of 2008 will be ones to collect, and Piedmont's Barberesco and Barolo wines will be recognized as amongst the finest of the past decade.
Region: Trentino/Alto Adige
The Italian wine region of Trentino-Alto Adige is often considered to be Italy's finest and most unique wine region, with centuries of history, and a range of different influences coming from the region's proximity to Germanic countries, as well as places like Lombardy and Venezia. However, it is usually Trentino-Alto Adige's alpine nature which causes wine fans to become the most excited, as the beautiful terroir in the foothills of the Italian Alps produce wines which are packed full of fascinating and unique attributes, due to the crystal mountain waters and plentiful minerals present in the soils of the vineyards. The three native grape varietals of the area are still used in Trentino-Alto Adige's wines, however, it is more common to find excellent imported grapes listed on the region's bottles, as great success has been had with Pinot Gris, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay grapes over the years.
Country: Italy
For several decades in the mid to late twentieth century, Italy's reputation for quality wines took a fairly serious blow. This was brought about partly due to lack of regulation in certain regions, and too much regulation in others. This led to several wineries in the beautiful and highly fertile region of Tuscany making the bold move to work outside of the law, which they saw as responsible for the drop in quality in Tuscan wines. They believed that they had the expertise and the generations of experience necessary with which to make truly excellent, world class wines, and set about doing just that. These 'Super Tuscans', as they came to be known, quickly inspired the rest of Italy to improve their produce, and now, Italian wine producers in the twenty-first century are widely recognised to be amongst the best in the world. Regulation and law began to change, and wine drinkers across the globe woke up to the outstanding wines coming out of Italy, which are continuing to improve and impress to this day.