Mullineux Old Vines White Swartland 2020

Mullineux Family Wines was established in 2007 in the Swartland region of South Africa, owned and managed by Chris and Andrea Mullineux. Within a very short time period the winery established itself as one of South Africa’s most celebrated wine brands, both locally and on the international front.

Growing up in Northern California, Winemaker Andrea Mullineux studied Viticulture and Oenology at UC-Davis before working in Stellenbosch and meeting Chris at a wine festival in Champagne. Chris is the Viticulturist, in charge of the vineyards on their farm on Kasteelberg Mountain as well as fruit sourcing for their value Kloof Street wines.

The Swartland is blessed with an abundance of old vine Chenin and they use this as the backbone of the white blend. They add several small parcels of Mediterranean varieties for complexity, balance and aromatic lift. The grapes come from vineyard parcels in different parts of the Swartland: the stony Shale and Schist based soils of the Kasteelberg, the decomposed Granite of the Paardeberg and the rolling, iron-rich hills west of Malmesbury.

Fermentation is in barrel with indigenous yeasts and the wine is aged for 11 months in French oak barrels, 20% new. The final blend is 65.5% Chenin Blanc, 17.5% Clairette Blanche, 5.2% Grenache Blanc, 4% Viognier, 4.7% Semillon Gris, 3.1% Verdelho.