Mullineux Schist Roundstone Syrah

Mullineux Schist Roundstone Syrah is a barrel aged red wine made by the Mullineux & Leeu winery with the Syrah variety, in Swartland, north of Cape Town (South Africa).

Chris and Andrea Mullineux are young entrepreneurs who, having worked in different wineries in France, South Africa and California, settled in Swartland, north of Cape Town, with the aim of making the most of the exquisite granite terroir and shale and the large number of old vines that the region has. In 2013, the Hindu Analjit Singh joined the project with his three Leeu Estates properties. Mullineux & Leeu currently has 7 hectares across 21 vineyards with small productions that are part of The Swartland Independent Produces, an association where 21 producers have joined forces to recover the identity of the terroir by working in a traditional way and without using wine products in winemaking. As a result, they create authentic wines with density and structure. 

The Mullineux Schist Roundstone Syrah grapes come from a single plot with 20-year-old vines planted in stony shale and shale soils. Using traditional cultivation, they work in a sustainable way, respecting the natural environment at all times. The harvest is carried out manually at the optimum moment of ripeness.

When the Mullineux Schist Roundstone Syrah clusters reach the winery, they are first cooled in a cold chamber and then trampled in 500-litre French oak barrels. There, it spontaneously ferments with native yeasts and without adding more than a minimum of SO2. It then ages for 12 months in 500 litreFrench oak barrels, 25% of which are new, followed by 9 months in a foudre. It rests in the bottle for 10 months before being sold.

Mullineux Schist Roundstone Syrah is an elegant, meaty and smooth red wine. A great introduction to the full power of “the black earth”.