2019 Mullineux, Iron Syrah, Swartland, South Africa
Critics reviews
Beginning with a floral grip, the 2019 Iron Syrah offers a seductive nose filled with red flowers, wild raspberry and dusty cherry as elegant spice tones waft from the glass. Medium to full-bodied, the wine has a fine mineral tension and firm, rocky tannins that lift the mid-palate. As the tannins loosen, the wine uncoils in the mouth, leading to a food-friendly and delightfully fragranced finish. This was made with 100% whole-cluster Syrah, and the wine rested for one year in 50% new French oak. It's delicious! 3,300 bottles produced.
Drink 2022 - 2038
Anthony Mueller, Wine Advocate (December 2022)
Iron comes from the Malmesbury side of the Swartland and is the broadest, richest and most structured of the three Mullineux soil Syrahs, with lots of extract and concentration, bloody, meaty intensity, top notes of whole bunch spices and a hint of stony reduction.
Drink 2023 - 2027
Tim Atkin MW
About this WINE
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.
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.
Syrah/Shiraz
A noble black grape variety grown particularly in the Northern Rhône where it produces the great red wines of Hermitage, Cote Rôtie and Cornas, and in Australia where it produces wines of startling depth and intensity. Reasonably low yields are a crucial factor for quality as is picking at optimum ripeness. Its heartland, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, consists of 270 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards producing wines that brim with pepper, spices, tar and black treacle when young. After 5-10 years they become smooth and velvety with pronounced fruit characteristics of damsons, raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries.
It is now grown extensively in the Southern Rhône where it is blended with Grenache and Mourvèdre to produce the great red wines of Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas amongst others. Its spiritual home in Australia is the Barossa Valley, where there are plantings dating as far back as 1860. Australian Shiraz tends to be sweeter than its Northern Rhône counterpart and the best examples are redolent of new leather, dark chocolate, liquorice, and prunes and display a blackcurrant lusciousness.
South African producers such as Eben Sadie are now producing world- class Shiraz wines that represent astonishing value for money.
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Description
The Iron is always the richest and most intense of the three Mullineux single terroir syrahs and this quality really puts it in its element in 2019. It already tastes utterly lovely with dark blackberry and blueberry fruit coming through, complemented by savoury notes of chargrilled meat and toast. The wine manages to combine this ripeness of fruit in perfect harmony with the more complex, savoury character.
It is really stunning. There is such a lovely succulence of fruit on the palate. Once again, beautiful balance and harmony prevail with such impressive layers of flavour. Rolling red and black fruit dominates and the wine feels almost rich in its concentration, yet this has none of the cloying heaviness that you might associate with a Shiraz version of this variety.
This is still most definitely a Syrah, just a wonderfully, gorgeously concentrated one. Notes of dark fruit, chargrilled meat and toast persist on the rewarding and exceptionally long finish. This is a wine that would go rather fabulously with a rich beef stew. Yum.
Drink 2023 - 2044
Catriona Felstead MW, Senior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd
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