2017 Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines, Leeu Passant, Dry Red Wine, Western Cape, South Africa

2017 Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines, Leeu Passant, Dry Red Wine, Western Cape, South Africa

Product: 20171531053
Neal Martin, Vinous93/100
Jancis Robinson MW16.5/20
Decanter93/100
 
2017 Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines, Leeu Passant, Dry Red Wine, Western Cape, South Africa

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Description

The 2017 Dry Red Wine offers fragrant, open-knit scents of crushed strawberry, maraschino cherries, orange pith and a background scent of potpourri, cohering with aeration. The palate has a well balanced, quite fleshy opening and silky-smooth red fruit. More tender than expected, with a caressing, almost Grenache-like finish. Delicious.

Drink 2022-2036

Neal Martin, Vinous (Oct 2020)

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Critics reviews
Neal Martin, Vinous93/100
The 2017 Dry Red Wine offers fragrant, open-knit scents of crushed strawberry, maraschino cherries, orange pith and a background scent of potpourri, cohering with aeration. The palate has a well balanced, quite fleshy opening and silky-smooth red fruit. More tender than expected, with a caressing, almost Grenache-like finish. Delicious.

Drink 2022-2036

Neal Martin, Vinous (Oct 2020) Read more
Jancis Robinson MW16.5/20
Firm, concentrated and rich on the nose. The one wine of the four Leeu Passant reds I am tasting in this session that does smell and taste recognisably South African. Quite intense floral nose with marked sweetness. Nicely built. Quite punchy with direction and real structure and light tannins.

Drink 2020-2024

Jancis Robinson MW, jancisrobinson.com (May 2020) Read more
Decanter93/100
This side project for Chris and Andrea Mullineux is named after the ‘lion passant’ which commonly featured in heraldry, roaming around with its front right paw raised. The Mullineuxs roamed the vineyards of Stellenbosch, Wellington and Franschhoek in search of fruit for this vibrant and expressive red blend. Tobacco, tapenade and blackcurrant characters offer a hint of things to come from this young wine; this is rich and textured and will benefit greatly from time in the cellar. This side project for Chris and Andrea Mullineux is named after the ‘lion passant’ which commonly featured in heraldry, roaming around with its front right paw raised. The Mullineuxs roamed the vineyards of Stellenbosch, Wellington and Franschhoek in search of fruit for this vibrant and expressive red blend. Tobacco, tapenade and blackcurrant characters offer a hint of things to come from this young wine; this is rich and textured and will benefit greatly from time in the cellar.

Drink 2022-2032

Decanter (Sep 2019) Read more

About this WINE
Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines

Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines

Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines is one of the stand-out producers in South Africa's budding Swartland region. Winemakers Chris and Andrea Mullineux’s ambition is to bottle wines that are a true expression of the Swartland, and all steps of their winemaking process are taken with this in mind. They work closely with a select group of growers who follow sustainable, reasoned farming practices, as well as owning vineyards at their Roundstone Farm in Riebeeksrivier.

In the cellar, apart from minimal amounts of sulphur, nothing is added to or removed from the wine. They do not make use of any yeasts, acids, tannins, enzymes, or fining and filtering agents. “Leeu” (Afrikaans for “lion”) was added to the name recently to recognise the contribution of a new investor to the project.

Apart from their wonderful Syrah, Chenin Blanc-based white blend and a super-rich Straw Wine made from air-dried Chenin Blanc, fermented and matured in old barriques, Mullineux now has a range of spectacular single-terroir Syrah and Chenin Blanc wines, each of which illustrates the amazing potential of the differing Swartland soils. Volumes of the single-vineyard wines are tiny, so availability is extremely limited.

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Swartland

Swartland

After Stellenbosch, the west coast district of Swartland (25 miles due north of Cape Town, between the towns of Malmesbury and Piketberg) now ranks as the Cape's most exciting wine-producing district.

Settled initially by nomadic Khoikhoi from Namibia, the Dutch brought trade and vines to the region in the 17th century. Viticulture was developed only more recently.

This contrasts with an ancient geology which has brought a mix of shale, arenite sandstone and granite soils air-conditioned by the Atlantic Ocean nearby.

Chenin Blanc and Shiraz seem to do best, as exemplified by the wines of Eben Sadie and Mullineux.

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Other Varieties

Other Varieties

There are over 200 different grape varieties used in modern wine making (from a total of over 1000). Most lesser known blends and varieties are traditional to specific parts of the world.

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