Vineyard Notes
The Cabernet comes from the Chinese block in the Willunga district at the southern end of McLaren Vale. The grapes are grown on black Biscay clay and hand harvested at around 13 Baumé onto 10 kg drying racks. Yield is typically around 2 tonnes an acre (35 hl/ha).
Style
Mitolo delivers wines that express purity of varietal flavour and show elegance of structure whilst being rich, powerful and complex. All the grapes are picked on flavour ripeness which contributes to the soft, ripe tannins and vibrant fruit which is a key characteristic of all Mitolo wines. Serpico, the flagship Mitolo Cabernet, is made using the Amarone technique of drying grapes before fermentation. This process concentrates flavour contributing mid palate plushness, complexity and mouth coating yet silky tannins.
Winemaker Notes
Fruit is hand picked early (around 13° Baume) and placed onto 10kg drying racks. The grapes were left to dry for between five to seven weeks in the traditional Amarone manner resulting in 30% loss in bunch weight. After drying, the wine is fermented on skins for two weeks and then is left for a further three weeks before pressing. This extended time on skins actually helps to soften the wine as the small, aggressive tannins are bound up in the process leaving only larger, silky tannins in the wine. The wine is then stored in oak barrels for ten months before careful barrel selection precedes blending and bottling.
Vintage Note
The growing season began with a wet August followed by a dry spring resulting in an earlier start than normal and strong canopy growth. At Mitolo’s Lopresti vineyard, this strong growth along with sound management techniques and an inherent understanding of the vines allowed the fruit to survive a long spike of heat at the end of January relatively unscathed. Conditions around this heat were actually quite mild; ideal for grape ripening. Cabernet, with its thick skins, survived the heat particularly well, producing fruit of intense varietal character with naturally balanced acidity.
Variety
100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Region
McLaren Vale
Tasting Notes
Appearance
Deep ruby red
Bouquet
Concentrated varietal characters of blackcurrant, tobacco leaf and dried herb, with subtle whiffs of smoky, spicy oak.
Palate
Intriguing palate of concentrated dark berry fruits framed by silky yet mouth coating tannin. The flavours are complex and layered with blackberry, cigar box and balanced acidity leading to dry and long finish.
Maturation
Aged in 100% new medium to light toasted barriques which are 80% French oak (Alliers/Nevers) and 20% French coopered American oak for 17 months. A total of 16 coopers are used for the Mitolo oak regime.
Cellaring
Will age reliably for 15 years.
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