I can still remember tasting Kooyong and Scorpo, both made for many years by Sandro Mosele, during my time at Vintage Cellars. Year after year, we tasted the wines, sold the wines, bought the wines, and enjoyed every release, regardless of vintage. I believed then, as I do now, and certainly after tasting the first releases of Elanto, that he favours a style, and that style has been pivotal in shaping the Mornington Peninsula and it’s wine styles over the past 25 years or so.
I don’t think I have ever described one of Sandro’s wines as “Burgundian”, either pinot noir, or chardonnay, and this is in no way a criticism. His wines tend to be rich and succulent, curvaceous of body, with ripe fruit, soft acids, background tertiary notes and long fine, balancing tannins. They are drinkers wines, always instantly accessible, and yet the intensity of fruit, complexity of flavour, length and harmony of elements have always, in my experience, ensured a long cellaring life. They are usually ‘loose knit’, with no sharp angles, nothing too firm and absolutely no astringency. I cannot think of any other Australian winemaker who crafts such serious wines, in such an accessible, casual, easygoing style.
I didn’t just want to reel off the stats of the vineyard, the winemaking, the viticulture etc. Every wine journalist in Australia has done that already and it’s true, this is one of the most important new vineyard projects in recent years. Important, no doubt because of the sheer size of the investment.
Sandro’s prominence in the region I believe makes him a bit of a target, one way or another, so the wines will have to perform and perform early in the piece. Everyone is trying to emulate Burgundy, or almost everyone, certainly in Victoria, but Elanto isn’t. One release in, and who knows, but the 2023’s are without a doubt wines of the Sandro Mosele mould. It will be fascinating to see if Sandro is tempted to adjust, what I think has been a lifetime of his stuyle of winemaking and happen on another, dare I say it, “Burgundian” approach. There will be pressure, no doubt about it, but judging by this magnificent release, it’s all in his stride.
Rich, mouthcoating, juicy and succulent, this is absolutely classic Sandro Mosele. Gorgeous aromas of grapefruit, lemon and lime, fresh, zest and preserved, gardenia and breezy wood spice. Freshness and richness, loose knit and luscious, with cream, quince, fresh macadamia nuts and a fine citrus line, keeping everything fresh and drawing out the close. Magnificent.
A red wine for a cricket match. Beautiful aromatics, with a compote of English summer red fruits, rhubarb, lavender and sandalwood. Rich, verging on full bodied, the fruit super complex and juicy with blueberry, blackberry, blackcurrant and tangy red fruits. Licorice, baking spices and earth, the wines lusciousness tensioned by fabulous oak and long, tight tannins. Incredibly for Sandro, this will undoubtably improve with another few years in bottle. A real statement of intent.
