On Monday I had the pleasure of having lunch with Ben Glaetzer and his wife at Craft in Atlanta. This was the first time I had seen Ben since Feb. of 2007 when I visited Australia. It was great to catch up and great to meet his new wife. It was also an eye-opening tasting in some ways. Vintus, Ben’s importer for Mitolo, trotted out the lineup of new release wines, including all the usual suspects: G.A.M., Savitar, Reiver, Jester, etc. But, at Ben’s request they also brought along some older vintages. We got to taste bottles of '04 G.A.M. and Serpico as well as, of all things, an '02 Jester Shiraz. Bob, or anyone else at TWA, if you are reading this you might want to update the '02 Jester note! Its still going strong. The '04s were also extremely good. Particularly the Serpico which had an amazing acid profile. The G.A.M. was also excellent and in no signs of decline. (I went home and noticed I still had two bottles btw!) Of the new releases I think the Savitar is pretty fantastic. Overall the whole lineup was solid. Too bad the food and the service at Craft were not that great!
If anyone wants proper TNs I am happy to post them.
Please post them. You finally found a wine we agree on 
I got a half a case of 04 left.
In its youth the Anaperenna (or Godolphin as it used to be called) shows a lot of blue fruit and spice. As the wine shows a bit more age I think the Shiraz component begins to wade its way into the forefront. The big, plush fruit tends to recede and gives way to a little more game meat, earth and such . . . also with age the fruit is less blue and more black. It is a good wine. Probably low to mid nineties kind of score.
Thanks for the report, John. I do enjoy his wines.
They had some sort of legal issue with the name Godolphin, nothing else changed. I like those too.
John…sounds like a good lunch…bummer about the food and the service. It’s always good to taste past vintages of wines to get a perspective on how they are ageing/doing.
The Godolphin/Anaparenna lawsuit story involves some Arab royalty or something, as I recall.
The Godolphin stables got difficult about the name, and forced the change.
Mitolo Jester Shiraz 2002:
Still plump and round, with good fruit (a mix of black plums and sweet cherries) and a dash of spiced vanilla cream. Hints of earth, wood, spice and melted candy echo in background. A fun drink for a cheap date that might should have expired a while ago. 89 points
Mitolo Cabernet Sauvignon Serpico 2004:
Perhaps my favorite of the lunch. The dried fruit flavors and acid seemed most prominent at first. As the wine calmed it became a little more playful and rambunctious. I liked where this was going. The concentration appears good and the finish is strong . . . should last for some time. 93 points
Mitolo Shiraz G A M 2004:
Polished and elegant, with a refined nose- still a little heavy on blue/black fruit, toast, smoke and violets. Properly layered with waves of flavors. Definitely not as big as I remember. Will live for a while I think. 92 points
If I think about it I might update the new release wines later.
Yes that was it, thanks Paul!