Swartland wunderkinds
Friday, 10 February 2012 00:00
The story of Andrea and Chris Mullineux, two of the wine industry’s brightest young stars, is one that has been told many times – but it’s worth repeating, because it’s the stuff dreams are made of, and particularly those of aspirant winemakers.
A recent import from California, Andrea was working at Waterford estate in Stellenbosch when she had a chance meeting with Chris in 2004, who came by the estate looking for old barrels. They chatted, compared notes and went their separate ways. (And by the way, Chris still has those old barrels.) Time passed and another chance meeting: this time in Champagne – where they were both working separately. A harvest romance blossomed (“It was meant to be,” says Andrea) and after working together at Tulbagh Mountian Vineyards they got married in 2007.
It was in the same year that the couple moved to set up their own winery in Riebeek Kasteel, with the financial backing of investors Keith Prothero and Peter Dart, and within a remarkably short space of time, five years to be exact, they notched up an impressive rating, with three of their wines scoring five stars in the 2012 Platter’s – their Mullineux Syrah 2009, the Mullineux White Blend 2010 and the Straw Wine 2010. This in addition to recognition from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate website: the white blend scored 91 points (out of 100) the syrah 92 points and the straw wine 94 points – the 2009 straw wine also received a five star rating in the 2011 Platter guide.
It would have been a no-brainer for the couple to join their illustrious neighbours, Swartland pioneers Adi Badenhorst and Eben Sadie out in the Paardeberg, and they were tempted – but instead, as Andrea says, they wanted their own stamp on their wines, and decided to live and work in Riebeek, allowing them to have the best of both worlds, a choice of 23 sites across seven hectares from which they select their grapes, some close to Riebeek and some out in the Paardeberg.
The cellar is located in what was once a hardware store in the centre of the Swartland village, close enough for the couple to walk home to have lunch. They’re in good company; across the square from where they’re located is The Wine Kollective, where the region’s best wines are showcased, and just around the corner are two of the village’s trendy top restaurants, Baa Baa Black Sheep and Aunti Pasti (“our home away from home,” quips Andrea).
It is about the soils and the terroir that we talk at the start of a tasting: key to what Mullinuex wines are all about. About 90% percent of the vineyards is dryland, and grapes are grown on granite, schist/shale and koffieklip soils, all adding different characteristics to their much- lauded wines. “The schist soils allow for greater concentration in the wines, as the vines have to struggle a bit,” says Andrea (schist is often referred to as an unforgiving soil) whereas the decomposed granite, she adds, which is two metres below the surface of the ground, acts like a sponge, allowing for easier water absorption – berries are a little bigger and there are fresher tastes.
“In between the mountains in the Paardeberg are koffieklip, red iron rich soils and it is the grapes grown on these soils that are the base of our wines.
“So we get everything we need by blending all these components together,” she says, adding, “and the main reason we have been able to achieve this is by only picking on taste – where different alcohol levels bring in that complexity.”
Until recently, they made all their wines at Reynecke cellar in Stellenbosch, where they rented space and a “symbiotic relationship” was established, says Andrea, where they both follow a similar philosophy of making wines as naturally as possible.
This remains at the core of what they do, and coupled with attention to detail in the vineyards, reflects the high level of what the young couple have so far achieved.
Natural fermentation is a given, says Andrea. “We don’t add yeasts or acids, and our wines are primarily hands-on.” She adds that while filtration is not taboo, it’s kept to a minimum and done only when necessary.
While many have justifiably sung the praises of their 5-star wines, their Kloof Street wines – introduced last year, a chenin and a red blend – are not so much a second label but a companion brand, as Andrea calls them. At a more accessible price level, they demonstrate how minimal intervention and terroir-driven wines go so far to achieve balance and still push the limits.
Sadly the Mullineux White 2010 has been sold out, which can be attributed in no small way to its elegance, intrigue and layers of complexity, a wine that delivers with a sense of subtlety rather than a showiness. It demonstrates the best of Swartland chenin – the grapes were selected from 30 to 70-year-old vineyards, while a soupcon of viognier adds the beeswax lanolin quality and the dash of clairette blanche the freshness.
Their straw wine is also painstakingly crafted – grapes were picked from two vineyards – schist and granite and then laid out on shade cloths to dry out under the trees for three weeks.
Following was a further painstaking procedure of pressing – Andrea says it took 24 hours and the result was an unctuous liquid nectar “as sweet and sticky as honey”. The couple are now working with bigger barrels to allow for that subtlety to remain in the wines and the straw wine was aged for a year, with nine months in old oak.
The result is stupendous – a lingering wine that offers great concentration and sweetness, yet not cloyingly so.
Two about-to-be released wines, both syrahs, sampled as the penultimate finale of the tasting, probably best encapsulate this dynamic couple’s philosophy. To be touted as the ultra-premium range, the 2010 Granite Syrah and the 2010 Schist Syrah were made in exactly the same way yet offer remarkably different characteristics – the former feminine and softer, the latter dark and brooding – the male version, as Andrea calls it.
Both wines were aged 50% in new wood and 50% in old wood. “Round delicate tannins will in time develop into supple voluptuous tannins,” says Andrea.
The wines are a further example of the fact that the couple is forever evolving, forever dreaming up and executing something new. The new kids on the block have become a highly respected duo, two of the most exciting winemakers in one of the most exciting winemaking areas and it looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more from them.
Written by Orielle Berry You are reading Swartland wunderkinds articles
