Mullineux Wines
Chris and Andrea Mullineux founded their winery in 2007 in the Swartland, about an hour's drive northeast of Cape Town, after several vintages working across France, California and South Africa convinced them the region's ancient granite and schist soils could produce genuinely world-class wine. Chris, a Cape native, trained as a viticulturist; Andrea, from Northern California, studied viticulture and oenology at UC Davis before the two met at a wine festival in Champagne. They started out renting cellar space at a neighbouring winery before eventually building their own base at Roundstone Farm, on the slopes of the Kasteelberg.
Mullineux became one of the founding labels of what's now known as the Swartland Revolution, the loose movement of winemakers who turned the region from a source of bulk wine into one of South Africa's most serious fine-wine areas. The results came fast: Mullineux has been named Platter's South African Winery of the Year five times: 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2023
Philosophy and Winemaking
Our approach to farming is to understand our terroir and figure out how we can best express that. This ranges from how we plant the vineyards, to making all of our own compost. We’re really just trying to farm as naturally and sustainably as we can,”
The Mullineux style is built on soil rather than variety. The Swartland's three main soil types (granite, schist and iron-rich clay) sit at the centre of everything the winery does: Chenin Blanc and Syrah are picked at the same ripeness and vinified identically across all three, so that whatever differences show up in the glass come from the ground rather than the winemaking. Andrea and Chris describe soil as "the biggest fingerprint" on the wines, and the Single Terroir range exists specifically to prove the point, bottling each soil type separately rather than blending them away.
In the cellar, the approach stays deliberately hands-off: indigenous yeast fermentation, no added acids, tannins, enzymes or fining agents, and only a small amount of sulphur for stability. Grapes are hand-harvested in the early morning and, for the Syrah, often 80 to 90 percent whole-bunch fermented to build structure without heaviness. Reds typically spend upwards of a year in a mix of French oak barrels and foudres before blending and a further period in bottle. It's restraint over power, even in a warm, dry-farmed region that could easily produce something bigger.
The Range: Granite, Schist and Iron
WHITES:
Granite Chenin Blanc (Eikelaan), from decomposed granite on the Paardeberg, typically the most perfumed and lifted of the three, with nervy acidity. The 2021 was rated 97/100 by Greg Sherwood MW.
Schist Chenin Blanc (Roundstone), from the shallow, rocky schist soils of the home farm on the Kasteelberg, generally riper and more spice-driven. The 2021 scored 96+/100 from Greg Sherwood MW.
Iron Chenin Blanc (Rondomskrik), from the iron-rich Koffieklip soils north of Malmesbury, the richest and most structured of the three. The 2021 was rated 96/100 by Tim Atkin.
REDS:
Granite Syrah (Jakkalsfontein), elegant, perfumed fruit off decomposed granite bush vines. The 2020 was rated 97/100 by Greg Sherwood MW.
Schist Syrah (Roundstone), a spicier, more savoury profile from the Kasteelberg's shallow, well-drained soils. Tim Atkin scored the 2019 at 97/100 and the 2020 at 98/100.
Iron Syrah (Kasteelsig), the broadest and most structured of the three, with dense, meaty concentration. The 2020 scored 97/100 from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate.
