Here I am to tell you about the two new vineyards that have been created this year on the San Leonardo estate.

The first of these, which covers 10,000 m2 or precisely one hectare, is situated in the lower part of the estate, to the left of the large avenue of lime trees, and has been planted with around 6,500 rooted cuttings, equally split between Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

This new vineyard will complete the entire lower part to the north of the winery, and has a soil type that we already know well and that has always given excellent results. The soil is relatively rich, with the sort of pebbles typically found in riverbeds – indeed, 500 years ago, when the estate was a Crucifer monastery, the River Adige flowed through this area, before being diverted, in later centuries, beyond the walls of the estate.

The second vineyard, which covers around 15,000 m2, is an entirely new venture, both in terms of its location and in terms of the type of soil found there. 

This area was actually woodland up until just three years ago, and after a major tree-cutting operation, the plot was transformed in order to make it suitable for our tractors to drive across. We removed the roots of the great trees that stood here (mostly oaks and hop-hornbeams) and then we left the land fallow for more than two years in order to get rid of any decomposing roots that remained, which could have infected the rooted cuttings with certain fungi.

The uniformity of the plot and the type of soil found there made it advisable to plant the vines perpendicular to the slope, with a planting distance of 2.20 x 0.75 m, giving a density of 5714 vines per hectare. We wanted to plant a range of different varieties in this vineyard, including Petit Verdot, which has previously produced excellent results on other plots.

In short, the estate remains faithful to its ideals and traditions, using mostly Bordeaux varieties, as has been the case for 130 years here – in other words, since the time in which Merlot, Cabernet Franc and our beloved Carmenère were planted for the first time in this area.

Below, you can see how rapidly these young vineyards are growing. The fact that it has been a relatively rainy year has certainly contributed to their precocious development.

 

A plot in the upper part of the estate (formerly woodland):

A plot in the lower part of the estate:

All that there is left to do is wait patiently for a few years until these vineyards will have grown up…and then we can drink their fruits!