NoseIt has a broad, pervasive nose with lingering notes of tobacco andintriguing hints of vanilla and cocoa powder. black-cherrychocolatetobaccovanilla
FlavorThe palate finds a perfect balance ofsoftness and acidity with the sweet, elegantly assertive and velvet-smooth tanninsthat are the hallmark of Merlot grape variety.
Trentino At a Glance
Region NameTrentino
In the northernmost reaches of Italy, close to the Austrian border, the dramatic landscape is a fitting backdrop to one of the world’s most important wine-producing areas.
Score: 93Vintage 2020Vinous MediaThe 2020 Villa Gresti di San Leonardo enchants with a beguiling bouquet that blends pine shavings with incense, white pepper and wild blueberries. It’s a model of purity, with silken textures and medium-bodied weight as a wave of ripe red and blue fruits swirl across a stream of cooling acidity. This finishes with outstanding length yet fresh and lively. A sour citrus hint and gently grippy tannins add lovely punctuation. The 2020 is a profoundly elegant yet spicy vintage of Ville Gresti. I love it.Shelf TalkerFull Page Review
Score: 94Vintage 2019Vinous MediaThe 2019 Rosso Villa Gresti di San Leonardo is youthfully understated in the glass, with sage, rosemary and crushed wild blueberry aromas. This is silky and potent, with masses of dark red fruits and savory herbs cascading across its stern mineral core. It finishes dramatically long and savory with peppery inner florals and salted licorice hints that linger. The 2019 is a powerful and balanced Villa Gresti that will take some time to show its best.Shelf TalkerFull Page Review
Score: 92Vintage 2019James SucklingStemmy and peppery nose with ripe stems, sauerkraut and naturally fresh black and blue fruit. Succulent and medium-bodied on the palate with electric acidity and a long, sappy finish. Drink now.Shelf TalkerFull Page Review
Score: 91Vintage 2019Wine EnthusiastMerlot is never happier than when it comes from the mountains. Grown between 450 and 600 meters, this 90% Merlot with 10% Carmenère shows vibrant and lifted aromas of ripe plums, violets, white pepper, clove and star anise. Energetic on the palate
with polished tannins, generous dark-fruit flavors combined with well-integrated and balanced oak use. Drink now–2030.Shelf TalkerFull Page Review
Score: 90Vintage 2019Wine SpectatorA fresh, medium-bodied red that layers light, fine tannins and a dark, minerally underpinning with baked black plum and cassis fruit, bay leaf and dill notes, spice and leather accents. Merlot and Carmenère. Drink now through 2028. 700 cases made, 120 cases imported.Shelf TalkerFull Page Review
Score: 93Vintage 2018Vinous MediaDarkly floral and brooding in the glass, the 2018 Rosso Villa Gresti di San Leonardo grumbles up with musky black currants and smokey grilled herbs. This is soft-textured, round and savory in style with depths of mineral-inflected dark red fruits. It finishes fresh and potent with only a subtle tug of fine tannin. Violet inner florals and citrus hints slowly fade.Shelf TalkerFull Page Review
Score: 93Vintage 2017James SucklingSo vibrant for its age, this has so many herbal aromas it’s almost got a herb-liqueur nose! Very cool and elegant, in the way good old Bordeaux is, but with youthful vitality, and it has a core of blackberry and ripe elderberry. Self-confidently dry finish.Shelf TalkerFull Page Review
Score: 94Vintage 2016Vinous MediaThe 2016 Rosso Villa Gresti di San Leonardo captivates with a dusting of crushed chalk and dried violets before blossoming with black berries and hints of tomato leaf. This is silky and cool-toned, with a core of brisk acids that enliven the tart wild red and blue berries within. It leaves a coating of fine tannins, along with a touch of stimulating sour citrus, while tapering off incredibly long and spicy. The balance here is amazing and will impart the 2016 with a long and fruitful life. The Villa Gresti di San Leonardo is a blend of Merlot with a dollop of Carmenère from an old vineyard located around Villa Gresti.Shelf TalkerFull Page Review
Score: 94Vintage 2016James SucklingLots of mushrooms, but not much fruit on the nose. However, on the palate this is quite a ripe wine with plenty of blackcurrant and some red bell pepper. Then the generous, fine tannins come through and build to a crescendo. Crisp finish with plenty of earthy complexity. Drinkable now, but better from 2023.Shelf TalkerFull Page Review
Score: 93Vintage 2015Vinous MediaThe 2015 Villa Gresti di San Leonardo is a blend of Merlot with a dollop of Carmenère from an old vineyard located around Villa Gresti. It opens up with breathtaking aromatics, showing dusty black cherry and wild blueberry with a peppery, herbal infusion, as notes of moist dark soil and roses form. There’s a stimulating mixture of acids and salty minerals that offsets its silky textures in a red-fruited display that is more savory than sweet. Tannins build but never get in the way, finishing lifted and refined, with notes of blueberry skins and herbs. Wow.Shelf TalkerFull Page Review
Score: 92Vintage 2015James SucklingA very subtle, enticing red that shows dried blackcurrants, dried cedar, walnuts and tobacco. Finely spiced and structured with firm tannins and driven acidity. Drink from 2021.Shelf TalkerFull Page Review
Score: 93Vintage 2014James SucklingDried cumin, tobacco, cedar, walnuts and hazelnuts punctuate the glazed blackcurrants and blackberries also on offer. Full-bodied and fleshy on the palate with plenty of generosity and density yet marvelous structure and panache. Drink from 2022.Shelf TalkerFull Page Review
Score: 91Vintage 2014Wine AdvocateThe Tenuta San Leonardo 2014 Villa Gresti marries Merlot and Carmenère in a wine that shows a mid-weight texture, bright freshness and accessible fruit. Villa Gresti occupies the mid-upper range in the estate portfolio. From a cool and humid vintage, it shows some greenness with subtle tones of olive or mountain herb at the back of sour cherry and plum. There is no mistaking the cool-climate, alpine personality of this tart red wine. Now, seven years from the harvest, it feels much younger than it really is. I might suggest more aging time to soften it out. Production is 15,000 bottles.Shelf TalkerFull Page Review
Score: 90Vintage 2014Wine SpectatorAn elegant red, fresh and medium- to full-bodied, with sculpted tannins and a concentrated range of cassis, dusty sage, loamy mineral and graphite notes that linger on the finish. Merlot and Carmenère. Drink now through 2024. 1,250 cases made. –ANShelf TalkerFull Page Review
Score: 89Vintage 2014Vinous MediaDeep red-ruby. Pungently floral nuances complement red cherry and a hint of cassis on the nose. Minerals, medicinal herbs and earth tones are complicated by candied violet and cocoa. Finishes clean and pretty.Shelf TalkerFull Page Review
Score: 90Vintage 2011Vinous MediaDeep red-ruby. Aromas and flavors of red cherry, cedar, black tea, coffee and potpourri. Juicy and precise on the palate, offering gently sweet red fruit flavors that take a darker turn with air. The polished rising tannins build slowly, nicely framing the long, fresh, juicy and subtly flinty finish.Shelf TalkerFull Page Review
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