Mitolo Serpico Cabernet Sauvignon 2020
- 95
- $105
- Drink by: 2024-2036
Share
An absolutely cracking McLaren Vale Cab. Who says warm regions can’t do Cabernet? Sure, it might not be a Bordeaux replica, but it is delicious and drinks majestically. The name? Just like Frank Serpico did in attempting to expose corruption in the NYPD in the early 70s, this wine goes against the grain, as an Apassimento style Cabernet. For that, the fruit went into 10-kilo drying crates and was stored for 25 days, over this period, the grapes lost 30% of their weight. This had the effect of concentrating aromas and softening the tannins with the wine spending two years in a combination of French oak hogsheads, 60% new and 40% one-year-old. The 2020 Serpico Cabernet Sauvignon was made without finings and received only light filtration prior to bottling. Deep red/maroon, this has an appealing ripeness with notes of chocolate, cigar boxes, mocha, coffee beans and a hint of vanilla. The structure is seamless with juicy acidity and excellent length. Utterly delicious, this is more a cracking McLaren Vale red than the typically varietal Cabernet. Ten to twelve years.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
