In today’s tasting Wine-Searcher’s Wine Director, Master of Wine David Allen MW, Wine-Searcher’s Wine Director concludes his series of four tastings of Chenin Blancs made by the highly reputed Swartland winemakers Chris and Andrea Mullineux. In this review he tastes a sweet wine, this is their Swartland Straw Wine 2023, a wine made sweet by driying the grapes to concentrate them.
Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines is a notable South African wine producer located in Swartland, known for producing terroir-expressive wines from the region’s granite, schist, and iron-based soils.
Founders and winemakers Chris and Andrea Mullineux have taken a natural approach to winemaking since the winery’s establishment in 2007 and the pair work with growers who approach farming with sustainable and natural methods. The estate’s company name was changed from Mullineux Family Wines in 2013 with new investment from Analjit Singh, adding ‘Leeu’ (meaning lion in Afrikaans) – the Sanskrit derivation of Singh.
Mullineux’s vineyards are planted to Syrah, Chenin Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Clairette, and Viognier. Syrah is the main focus of the estate and Mullineux bottles multiple expressions of the variety from Swartland’s different soil types.
Mullineux wines are vinified with a minimalist approach. Aside from a small amount of sulfur, nothing is added to or removed from Mullineux’s wines.
Grapes are fermented with indigenous yeasts and macerated around four to six weeks before being pressed directly to barrel. All Mullineux’s wines go through malolactic fermentation and mature in French oak barrels. When ready, they are bottled unfined and unfiltered.
To find out more about this wine, pricing and where to buy it follow this link to the Wine-Searcher website: https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/mullineux+straw+swartland+coastal+western+cape+south+africa/2023
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2 Comments
Thank you.
Never investigated about wine from Afrika before. Thanks for the lectures.
According to Meinigers an uptrend: "Die Elfenbeinküste ist heute der größte Weinimporteur des Kontinents und hat damit Angola und Südafrika überholt. Die Importe stiegen 2023 um 22 % und erreichten insgesamt 64 Millionen US-Dollar (USDA). Die wachsende Mittelschicht und veränderte Konsumgewohnheiten treiben die Nachfrage an. Sagaci Research stellt fest, dass die historischen Bindungen zu Frankreich eine stärkere Vorliebe für Wein gefördert haben."