Mitolo Jester Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
Screwcap. McLaren Vale. 20% of the grapes dried on racks, 6 day cold soak, partial barrel fermentation, natural malo, 9 months in 2-4 year old French oak.
A somewhat lifted style nose of squashed sweet mulberries and blueberries on the ground on a warm day, seedy-raspberry/briar but not at all wild, and maybe some dried dark plum (not prune). Initially the oak seems well integrated but with air it comes out as a dried wood aroma with some char and a lactone/vanillin whiff that lends roundness. With more air I get a faint waft of liquorice and a wind-blown dust on herb. The palate is sweet on entry, full and thick with alcohol and infused with some generic red fruit and a clayey kind of flavour. IMO, this doesn’t really have much flavour on the palate. Quite astringent fine-grained tannins appear from the mid-palate and build in astringency through to the shortish finish of perhaps (slightly bitter) dark chocolate flavour. The tannins kind of stick to the mouth here and I find it unpleasant. I expected more "refreshment" (and by that I don't mean acidity) from the palate, as well as more flavour, more length and even a more interesting mouthfeel. It feels uncomfortably chunky and sticky in the mouth, and ultimately empty and unfulfilling. The more I drink it, the more it feels like alcoholic lolly-water. It’s not like an Amarone, it just takes a slightly dried-fruit orientation. It doesn’t seem AT ALL like Cabernet Sauvignon either. I’m not convinced it’s going anywhere with age either. Past vintages have received low 90's scores from Parker (that means it places within about the top 20% of all the wines that he publishes notes on) and I am left wondering how this wine can really satisfy his soul. The Mitolo motto is “purity, elegance, power” - this has purity, but little elegance or power. I like big Aussie reds on occasion but this is certainly not for me, and I’d go as far as to say I don’t think it’s very well made either.