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Mitolo Wines is set within the McLaren Vale wine region. With its rolling hills, proximity to the seaside, and ancient, yet fertile soils, McLaren Vale reminds owner Frank Mitolo in many ways of the coastal towns of his parents’ Italian homeland, Abruzzo.
After years of working with his father in his potato business, Frank started making his own wine in 1995. For the first few years he operated on a small scale until when in 1999 he was introduced to one of Australia’s future winemaking talents, Ben Glaetzer. During a now legendary five-hour discussion over a restaurant table and quite a few bottles of Shiraz, they fashioned a dream of making the ultimate expression of McLaren Vale’s rich provenance of soils, and taking these wines to the world.
Frank sources his grapes from an old friend of his father’s, Don Lopresti, an Italian migrant of the 1950’s. Don, along with his two sons Joe and Michael, have an affinity with their land, and through simple practices and hard work produce fruit of the highest quality. The fruit here is the essence of Mitolo, with a depth of flavour garnered from heavy clay soils, yet freshness thanks to the gentle afternoon sea breeze that tempers the hot summer sun. Ben and Frank work closely with the Lopresti’s, picking the grapes when they are “flavour ripe” not simply at the right Baume level. They also take a very ‘hands-off’ approach in the winery, fermenting cool to retain purity, and using a range of barrel coopers to generate complexity yet respect and enhance the fruit.
The first wine Frank produced, the 2000 G.A.M. Shiraz, was named after his children Gemma, Alex and Marco. Since then another ten wines have been added to the range, each with its own distinct personality and story. Frank’s Italian heritage runs strongly through the range: they use the Italian varietals Vermentino and Sangiovese and the Italian appassimento technique of drying fruit to make the Jester Cabernet and Serpico wine. But perhaps most importantly of all, Mitolo wines are made to suit the Italian foods of Frank’s homeland.
Every new vintage of Mitolo is a reminder of Frank’s viticultural lineage and his parents’ humble beginnings. The Mitolo business meetings are still held around the kitchen table over Sunday lunch, served with the foods of their heritage and wine. At the heart of it all, in the wine style, in the people, is the motto that Frank’s father brought with him from Abruzzo - forte a gentile: strong and gentle.
