The fruit for this wine is grown in the Willunga district of the McLaren Vale in South Australia by Frank Mitolo, who founded the vineyard in 1999, who was then joined by legendary wine maker Ben Glaetzer in 2001; who managed to scoop Young Wine Maker of the Year on more than one occasion and numerous other awards along his way. The climate there is that of warms days and cool nights, which help to create an even ripening period, giving the fruit great flavours and helping to create ripe, juicy tannins in the wine.
In the glass, it had an opaque crimson/purple colour, with really pronounced aromas of dark fruits, cherries, plums and cassis, with a touch of sweet spice, liquorice, coming through from the background. On the palate you got these wonderfully intense jammy flavours of plums and dark cherries coming through, and then you got the sweet spice which just combined with the intense fruit flavours perfectly. Merge this with just enough acidity to make your mouth water and the juicy, ripe tannins and you got a stunning and well put together glass of wine.
This, I have to say, was not what I was expecting, I expected it to be far more spice than fruit, which is what you tend to expect from an Aussie Shiraz, but this was the exact opposite, and was just absolutely stunning. To go along with all the fruit, it had a great structure as well, making this such an enjoyable wine that I’d highly recommend, especially with the dark nights and colder weather setting in.
Enjoy
Jez
