Winemaker's Vintage Report - McLaren Vale 2024

With most of the fruit now through ferment and wines safely maturing, I can finally come up for air and reflect on what has been a challenging yet rewarding season. Like any good vintage, 2024 has thrown us plenty of curve balls… but as they say, in the middle of adversity lies opportunity!

A cool start to the growing season brought significant rains from November through to January. This resulted in some yield reductions, most notably affecting fruit set in our Nero d’Avola. Conditions then dried up in February steadying progress… but of course, mother nature had other ideas. A week of hot days approaching 40 degrees occurred in March, coinciding with the ripening of our Shiraz blocks - significantly condensing the picking window. All Shiraz parcels came into the winery within a 2-week period, the vast majority in just 8 days, creating some logistical challenges. For comparison, this spanned 22 days in 2022.

Thankfully, all our hard work is paying off with early indicators displaying fantastic results. All the fruit for our white, rosé, and sparkling wines, including our first ever Fiano, came in with near perfect ripeness and great balance.

For reds, the Sangiovese for Cinquecento is a real standout, displaying a wonderful array of fruit flavour from bright reds through to savoury dark fruits. The spicy tannins I love in this variety are eminent, and I can’t wait to see how it evolves in barrel. And even though conditions during Shiraz harvest were challenging, the wines are showing impressive structure, palate length and depth of fruit. These are in their infancy right now but will be ones to watch for in the years to come!

For those of us who can’t wait that long, keep an eye out for Mitolo's first 2024 wines. The youthful Jester Vermentino, Jester Sangiovese Rosé and La Spiaggia Sparkling Glera will be released within the next few months. I trust you’ll enjoy!

- Luke Mallaby, Mitolo Head Winemaker