Market Watch/Wall Street Journal calls Mitolo Jester Vermentino the perfect aperitif, in the context of the new face Australia is putting forward. 10% alcohol, fresh and irresistible – click on the Market Watch icon below to see the article, and Page 2 to see the commentary on Jester Vermentino.
While we are just releasing the Mitolo Jester Vermentino 2011 today, last week Mitolo began crushing the Jester Vermentino for the 2012 vintage. Here’s a photo of the beautiful green juice!
Even in the middle of what appears to be rollicking party, Ben Glaetzer is ever the professional and calmly runs through three new Mitolo wines, the Jester Cabernet, Jester Vermentino and Serpico.
Mitolo posted this recipe on their Facebook page the other day, and we can’t wait to give it a try. Prosciutto wrapped Veal with Soft Polenta. Yum!
Click on the image below to download the recipe.
Wine Anorak recently posted a profile of the Mitolo wines. Here is a brief excerpt:
“Mitolo is a relatively new label that is a collaborative venture between star Barossa winemaker Ben Glaetzer and Frank Mitolo, beginning in 1999. Frank’s family roots are Italian, and his day job is running the family’s international horticultural business. He provides the capital. Ben became a partner in 2001, and provides the winemaking knowledge.
The majority of the grapes come from a grower in Woolunga at the southern end of the McLaren Vale. The grower’s family is Italian and knows Frank’s parents. Jester is the name for the entry-lvel wines, which offer lovely fruit purity. The higher-end reds are fantastic, and include the Amarone-method Serpico Cabernet Sauvignon, and the GAM and Savitar Shirazes.
What makes these wines so impressive is that Ben’s winemaking manages to produce quite powerful wines that also possess freshness and definition – this is quite a challenge in a warm wine-growing region such as the McLaren Vale.”
Click here to read the full profile
Every year, Daily Mail wine columnist Matthew Jukes releases his list of 100 Top Australian wines. The wines are selected after a comprehensive year-long process of tasting and represents what Jukes considers to be the finest Australian wines in the UK market.
Since Matthews first started releasing this list in 2004, 12 wineries have consistently made the list year after year. Boutique producer Mitolo is among those wineries, along with De Bortoli, Fox Gordon, Jacob’s Creek, McWilliam’s, Penfolds, Peter Lehmann, St Hallett, The Lane Vineyard, Tyrrell’s, Wirra Wirra and Yalumba.”They reflect what is truly exciting, engaging, passionate and essential about Aussie wine and they have all gained a well-earned place in the very highest echeleons of the world of wine,” said Jukes.
The 2009 Mitolo Jester Shiraz made this year’s Top 100 list, accompanied by a fantastic write-up from Jukes:
“Frank Mitolo is justifably proud of his record in the 100 Best. This top notch operation is one of the most impressive in the country and the wines never fail to impress. I have long been a fan of the value attached to the Jester Series, which has a very sprightly Vermentino in its numbers these days. The Shiraz is always a cracker and he always keeps the concentration, silkiness and wow factor ratcheted up to a max. This vintage is no exception. With Turkish Delight, briary, fresh-picked berries and succulent steak au poivre
meatiness this is a true star and it’s still a cracking price.”
Shaw + Smith 2010 Sauvignon Blanc also made the Top 100 list, with the following impressive mention:
“Martin and Michael nail their trademark white again in 2010 with this sniper-sighted Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a perennial favourite, but this year it has even more taut and nervy herbal notes than usual. This wine has proved to be a massive hit on my 100 Best Roadshow and the comments that I hear time and time again are that the elegance of AH Sauvignon is so much better suited to our experienced, ‘European palates’ than the majority of the wines from NZ.”
Mitolo is mentioned in a piece in the Minnesota Star Tribune that examines Australia’s need to present and explain its site-specific, authentic wines to US drinkers. The author Bill Ward points to Mitolo as an example of this type of quality winery, a property to look for at premium price levels that offers “good quality-price ratio”. See the full article here.
Given that we were cooking outside on the grill for the first time this beautiful weekend, we’re going to include in this post a recipe Frank Mitolo sent us awhile ago for Grilled Beef and Panzanella Salad. A great pairing with Mitolo Jester Shiraz, as you might imagine.
4 sirloin steaks approximately 7 ounces each.
Marinade
3 cloves of garlic-crushed
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tsp of Dijon Mustard
2 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp of chopped rosemary
3 Tbsp olive oil
Dressing
6 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp rosemary leaves
2 cloves garlic-crushed
2-3 Tbsp lime juice
Salad
3 cups of torn ciabatta bread
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 large vine-ripened tomatoes- chopped roughly
1 small red onion – thinly sliced
4 sticks celery – thinkly sliced
18 green olives
7 ounces asparagus – blanched
7 ounces green beans – blanched
1/4 cup each of basil and flat leaf parsley
Mix marinade together, pour over steaks, cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours
Return steaks to room temperature and cook on each side for 3 minutes to medium rare
Toss bread with olive oil, salt and pepper, spread out on a tray and bake at 400 Fahrenheit. Allow to cool. Heat olive oil and saute rosemary until crisp then cool.
Transfer oil to a food processor, add garlic and lime juice and blend well, then season.
To serve combine beef and salad and then toss with the dressing. Pile onto serving platter. Serves 8.
A little cruel to get this up on a Monday morning I guess.
We’ve posted a number of photos on Facebook and now have some nice albums of Guigal, Errazuriz, Finca Decero (including photos our recent trip), Quinta do Noval, Telmo Rodriguez and Mitolo. Cool!
Frank Mitolo and Ben Glaetzer walking in the Lopresti vineyard, in the Willunga Hills section of McLaren Vale
Wine Spectator’s Harvey Steiman recently blogged about Ben Glaetzer and Frank Mitolo’s latest debut: Aussie Vermentino.
“Crisp” with “oodles” of “slate-inflected fig and stone fruit flavors,” Mitolo’s Jester Vermentino is delicate in texture and weighs in at just 10% alcohol, a perfect summer sipper. Says Steiman:
“Heads up, folks. Here comes another Australian wine you never expected. Are you ready for Aussie Vermentino?
“More to the point: Are you prepared for a crisp, minerally white wine that has oodles of flavor, despite an alcohol level below 10 percent? One that plays a grassy note like a delicate Sauvignon Blanc against a light texture that actually lets the slate-inflected fig and stone fruit flavors fill the mouth?
“From Australia?
“When I recently met with winemaker Ben Glaetzer and winegrower Frank Mitolo to preview the coming vintages of their Mitolo and Jester wines, they brought the standard Cabernet, Shiraz and Rhône blends. Those wines were good, as usual, and instructive about the vagaries of recent vintages in McLaren Vale, where they grow most of their grapes. But the wine that intrigued me the most was the new Vermentino, coming out later this year on the Jester label. The first vintage, 2010, is priced at $18 a bottle. (I would like it better at $15.) It’s unlike anything else I can think of, reminiscent of those crisp Atlantic Coast Spanish wines such as Txakoli, but with a deeper fruit profile.
“If more Aussie growers can achieve similar character to Jester’s, it could be the find of the decade.”
Full article is here (subscription required).
Decanter and the Daily Mail’s man in Australia, Matthew Jukes, has published his annual 100 Best Australian Wines, with some spectacular results for Mitolo and Shaw + Smith. In his introduction, Jukes includes Mitolo among just 15 wineries in his inaugural “Hall of Fame,” a distinction awarded for having made the list every year since its inception. That’s a remarkable testament to the quality of Frank Mitolo and Ben Glaetzer’s project, consistently making the best wines in McLaren Vale.
Mitolo Jester Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, McLaren Vale
“Frank Mitolo kindly flew in all of his new releases a few weeks ago for assessment and any one of them could have made this list. After forensic examination, Jester Cab was the champion of the Jester duo, once again, by virtue of the dribble of Serpico that it is kindly allowed to slurp. This inky addition makes Jester’s fruit transcendental in its delivery of cassis, dark chocolate and liquorice flavours. This wine could teach the whole of South America about fruit/oak/alcohol balance such is its impeccable fulcrum of flavours. One more scoop – A 2010 Mitolo Vermentino (!) looked stunning, too. You heard it here first.” Matthew Jukes’ 100 Best Australian Wines
Mitolo Savitar Shiraz 2007, McLaren Vale
“From the Chinese Block in Willunga and named after a mythical dragon whose tail ‘swept the stars from the sky and flung them to the earth’, this is a wine groaning with symbolism and valid hype. Considered to be a lighter vintage and yet easily as gripping and bold as the rich 2006, this is a thrilling wine with clove, woodsmoke, black liquorice and even pastrami notes in its vast panoply of flavours. Mitolo is riding the crest of the wave and perhaps a dragon’s tail, too.” Matthew Jukes’ 100 Best Australian Wines
Shaw + Smith Sauvignon Blanc 2009, Adelaide Hills
“Is this the finest S+S SB ever? An early glimpse at this wine last year suggested that it is and repeated encounters ever since (many such goes, I am fortunate to report) have confirmed this thought. Purity and length are the only two elements worth considering after the flavour boxes have been ticked and this wine excels in both disciplines.” Matthew Jukes’ 100 Best Australian Wines