In this tasting Wine-Searcher’s wine director, David Allen, Master of Wine, continues with his series of tastings of Chenin Blanc-based white wines from highly respected South African winemakers Chris and Andrea Mullineux, in Swartland. In this review he finds the 2022 vintage of their Old Vines Swartland White Blend to offer really superb quality.
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+old+vines+white+swartland+coastal+western+cape+south+africa/2022
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1 Comment
Very interesting, thanks.
"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."