Cinquecento Sangiovese - 2019

TROPHY
Best Red Mediterranean Variety.
2020 McLaren Vale Wine Show

95 POINTS (5 STARS)
It’s instantly appealing on the nose showing Black Doris plum, sweet cherry, violet, olive and subtle spice notes. The palate delivers elegant weight and fine texture together with refreshing acidity and grainy tannins, finishing wonderfully long and pleasingly dry. A lovely rendition of the variety displaying classic structure with pristine fruit purity. At its best: now to 2027
Sam Kim, Wine Orbit. May 2020

94 POINTS
From one row of the Lopestri family vineyard tucked into the southern Vales near Aldinga, just inland from the Gulf where beautiful Port Willunga attracts the chic to play. That one row, by the way, is 500 metres long, hence the cinquecento name! I’d walk 500 miles for this any day; it has all the sangiovese hallmarks – a slightly smoky/ charry note like grilled vegetable tart, and a delicate dried rose petal top note, not too perfumed and tempered by a sniff of leather. All this weaves a savoury layer into a subtle cherry fruited palate with trademark black tea tannins through to the finish. With all that going on, the bite of fruit – mid tart, mid sweet – adds a lift of mouth-enriching energy. No wonder this wine won the trophy for best Mediterranean Variety at the 2020 McLaren Vale Wine Show. It screams to be at a table groaning with big Italian plates.
Tony Love, November 2020.

93 POINTS
This Sangiovese is new to the Mitolo range. Again I like what I’m tasting. This is dry and spicy and perhaps a touch overcooked – asphalt-like notes to the fruit profile – but its savoury nuances and overall framework of tannin/acid are in excellent shape. This is a serious style of Sangiovese with red licorice, saltbush and ferrous aspects as key contributors. There’s reason to get excited about the direction Mitolo is going here.
Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front. October 2020

92 POINTS
This is a very Australian take on sangiovese with its bold style and lashings of dark berry fruits deeply rooted in its McLaren Vale origins. The wine is deeply coloured and opens up with aromas of blackberry, earth and old spice well supported by sweet oak. The palate is then dry and dense with big, upfront impact but then becomes more subtle with dried herb flavours and McLaren Vale mocha supported by sinewy tannins. Drink it up with slow cooked lamb shanks over the next five years for maximum enjoyment.
Angus Hughson, Wine Pilot. October 2020

91 POINTS
I adore sangiovese. The frisky edge to the tannins and the way they draw the saliva, readying one for another sip and another bite of whatever is on the plate. I appreciate the restrained cherry fruit scents, bright acidity and the herbal slake across the better wines' midriff, no matter how light or rich. This is definitely on the richer side, but it boasts all of the above. A good wine in a modern guise, the acidity just a bit hard.
Ned Goodwin, Halliday Wine Companion. 

91 POINTS
An attractive array of fresh red-cherry and berry aromas here with some spiced-wood notes. The palate is gently tart, succulent and juicy. Neat finish.
Nick Stock, James Suckling.com May 2020

91 POINTS
From the same vineyard as the Sangiovese rosé but picked more than a week later, this is the first vintage of a red Sangio for Mitolo. The 2019 Cinquecento Sangiovese (500 cases produced) features subdued cherry fruit with hints of leather and sandalwood. It’s medium to full-bodied yet tart and framed by dry, fine-grained tannins that give it a distinctly savory quality on the mouthwatering finish.
Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate. February 2021

Qui dit vin italien dit sangiovese. Cette variété de raisin est la vedette du pays et se trouve peu ailleurs dans le monde. C’est pourquoi le vigneron Frank Mitolo l’a plantée dans son pays d’adoption : l’Australie. Le résultat est surprenant. Les fruits sont récoltés dans la partie sud de McLaren Vale, puis le vin est vinifié en fûts français et américains. Puissant, épicé et un peu terreux, le vin est typique du cépage. Un petit tour en carafe permettra d’assouplir ses tannins et d’exprimer ses parfums de fruits. Cette curiosité va animer le repas.
Karyne DuPlessis Piché, La Presse Quebec, December 2022

SILVER
Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2020