Mullineux Schist Roundstone Chenin Blanc, Swartland 2023

Started only in 2007, after success at Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards, Mullineux Family Wines has quickly established itself as one of the most dynamic producers in the Cape's thoroughly dynamic wine scene.

Chris and Andrea Mullineux are both qualified oenologists, and are passionate about the land and their vineyards, sharing all that goes into their award-winning range of wines. These wines earned them the accolade of Winery of the Year in the influential Platter's guide 2014, which describes them thus:

‘To think it nearly didn't happen. He on a path to accounting, she reaching for the stars as an aspirant astronaut. But good fortune (theirs and ours) set them on converging courses in wine, and today Chris and Andrea Mullineux are partners in life and in a Swartland boutique venture whose modest quantities completely belie their stellar quality. This edition's haul of four maximum ratings gives them an astonishing 11 five stars to date, and places them firmly in the league of the greatest modern-era wineries. This in just seven years of operation.’

They have since, towards the end of 2013, entered a new chapter, selling a stake in the winery to Indian businessman Analjit Singh.

The small winery is in the heart of Riebeek-Kasteel and the grapes all come from the Swartland, mostly found around the shale and schist based Riebeek-Kasteel Mountain, as well as the granite-based Paardeberg Mountain. The Mediterranean grapes varieties planted (syrah, chenin blanc, viognier and clairette) are ideally suited to the climate here. In the winery, the team uses small open-top wooden and cement fermenters and all of the wines spend time in oak of varying ages, and the overall aim is always to capture the truest expression of Swartland.

Indeed the Mullineuxs were co-founders of the successful Swartland Revolution and leaders in the initiative to raise Swartland's profile abroad, which includes a thus far voluntary agreement to bottle all WO Swartland wines in Swartland. They were one of the 15 original members of PIWOSA (Premium Independent Wineries of South Africa), and Andrea is a member of the prestigious Cape Winemakers Guild.

Now leading viticulturist Rosa Kruger advises them, particularly in her field of unrivalled expertise: old vines. They are also involved in a new project Devil's Peak Brewery and still visit California regularly. ‘We feel proud to be part of that generation where there are no boundaries and the sky is the limit,’ says Andrea.