Ourea Sagrantino - 2019

BRONZE MEDAL
McLaren Vale Wine Show

SILVER MEDAL
2020 Royal Adelaide Wine Show

94 POINTS
Beautifully lifted and inviting, the bouquet shows spiced plum, dark cherry, cracked pepper and hazelnut characters. It’s equally satisfying on the palate, delivering excellent weight and intensity, while remaining elegant and poised, brilliantly structured by fine grainy tannins, finishing persistent and sturdy. At its best: now to 2029.
Sam Kim, Wine Orbit. May 2020

94 POINTS
Prepare yourself. This variety has a big reputation – reputedly carrying more antioxidant polyphenols than any other grape. That tends to translate into a mouthful of bold savoury elements – think strong black tea, licorice coated in grainy dark chocolate, black olive tapenade, all with a good grind of black pepper. Mix all that up in a big bowl and you’ll begin to get the picture of the flavour notes that sit over the rustic, chewy tannins driving this wine all the way home. Quite a heavyweight yet with loads of comforting personality – you’ll need big braised meat or a Bistecca to reveal an even fuller performance.
Tony Love, Wine Pilot December 2020

93 POINTS
I’m quite partial to sagrantino. Problem is that it can be hard to find a good one. I’d buy this without hesitation. It’s rusty and tannic, low in oak influence, flashed with leather and choc, and run with acidity. It’s grippy, ripe but not sweet, dusty, spicy, charismatic. It’s closer to a ‘ball of tannin’ than it is to a ‘ball of fruit’ which for me is a good thing but won’t be for everyone. It’s arguably the most interesting wine to come out of Mitolo in quite some time.
Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front. October 2020

93 POINTS
This wine is a little unusual for Mitolo with the brooding and savoury characters of sagrantino trumping their typically slick winemaking style. It is deeply coloured but also slightly reserved at the moment with aromas of baked earth, black cherry and spice plus well-balanced oak. The palate is then darker and more intense – rustic and generous fruits are joined by significant well integrated tannins providing a chewy food friendly style with good aging potential. It finishes well-balanced and with exceptional length suggesting this wine will age very well. Drink it up in five to ten years time with spit roasted lamb.
Angus Hughson, Wine Pilot. October 2020

90 POINTS
This has very fragrant flowers and blueberries and a juicy palate, packed with fresh, succulent blue-fruit flavours. Medium body. Big flavour.
Nick Stock, James Suckling.com May 2020

90 POINTS
The 2019 Ourea Sagrantino isn’t a massive, black beast, but it does possess plenty of the variety’s trademark tannin. Bright cherries and even floral notes appear on the nose, while the medium to full-bodied palate is dusty and astringent, requiring food to help it go down more easily. Serve it with a nice slab of steak, or save it in the cellar until the tannins mellow at some unknown date in the future.
Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate. February 2021

89 POINTS
Sagrantino is arguably the most phenolically endowed grape known to mankind. And it shows. The aromas are all red-fruit crunchy, with an underlying sluice of anise, rhubarb and herb. Yet somehow, the fruit is simply not dense enough to absorb the structural architecture. This is an example of a wine that should be bestowed with all that the Vale can offer: warmth and richness. After all, the tannins aren’t going anywhere.
Ned Goodwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion. August 2021