4 products
- White Wine
- Chenin Blanc
- Sustainable, Vegan-Friendly
- Dry
- Residual Sugar: 2.00 g/l
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 13.00% alc./vol
About the Winery
Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines
Mullineux Family Wines, established in 2007 in the Swartland region of South Africa, is owned and managed by Chris and Andrea Mullineux. Since its inception the winery has established itself as one of South Africa’s most celebrated wine brands, both locally and internationally. Originally from 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.
To add to their acclaim, Andrea Mullineux was named Wine Enthusiast’s Winemaker of the Year in 2016 and in 2016 Chris & Andrea were Tim Atkin’s South African Winemakers of the Year. . By focusing on producing handcrafted wines from the granite and shale based soils of the Swartland and it is quickly becoming South Africa's wine frontier. Located an hour's drive away from Stellenbosch, the Swartland is rolling hills of wheat and jagged outcrops of old vines.
Press Reviews
WineAlign
90 Points-David Lawrason
Great Heart is a brand wholly owned by employees who work for the Mullineux and Leeu families - leading producers in the Swartland region. This is a very fine, bright, balanced and delicious chenin with generous aromas of lemon, spiced pear, and elderflower. It is medium-full bodied, smooth yet fresh and lively with somewhat elevated lemony acidity creating a tart finish and somewhat brittle texture. The length is excellent.
- White Wine
- Chardonnay
- Sustainable
- Dry
- Residual Sugar: 2.1 g/l
- Full Bodied
- 750ml
- 14% alc./vol
About the Winery
Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines
Mullineux Family Wines, established in 2007 in the Swartland region of South Africa, is owned and managed by Chris and Andrea Mullineux. Since its inception the winery has established itself as one of South Africa’s most celebrated wine brands, both locally and internationally. Originally from 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.
To add to their acclaim, Andrea Mullineux was named Wine Enthusiast’s Winemaker of the Year in 2016 and in 2016 Chris & Andrea were Tim Atkin’s South African Winemakers of the Year. . By focusing on producing handcrafted wines from the granite and shale based soils of the Swartland and it is quickly becoming South Africa's wine frontier. Located an hour's drive away from Stellenbosch, the Swartland is rolling hills of wheat and jagged outcrops of old vines.
Press Reviews
Robert Parker
95 Points
The 2020 Leeu Passant Stellenbosch Chardonnay is more generous and shows more ripeness than the previous vintage, with a touch more approachability and youth, as it encapsulates a broader-shouldered expression. Medium to full-bodied, the wine explodes on the palate with flavors of lemon pastry cream, popcorn kernel and sweet citrus and a lingering nutty and creamy sensation across the mid-palate. The wine glides to a gracefully long finish that persists with flavors of peach yogurt. Bravo!
Wine Align - Michael Godel
96 Points
Chris and Andrea Mullineux started the project in 2013 with the help of viticulturist Rosa Kruger. "New" vineyards were unearthed and rehabilitated through four solid years of re-pruning, re-training and re-working of the soils. Then the wines could begin being made. A deconstruction and reconstruction, now seven years in and entering the opening gambit of true maturity stage for what is one of South Africa's most unique heritage collections. Leeu means lions, a reference to a meandering walkabout, personified in these wines. They are made in the Franschhoek winery, certified organic, coming of age in their foray into regenerative agriculture, which says Andrea Mullineux, "in the southern hemisphere also means cultural and worker sustainability practices." The 2020 is as fine a reductive but mainly lightning acidity charged chardonnay as a vineyard can determine. Located in the upper mid-slopes of the Helderberg facing the Strand with a clear view of False Bay. That said or perhaps out of necessity this is made in an oxidative way, which makes sure to keep the flinty and salty faith alive. The '20 is possessive of fibres, threads, strings and wires braided to make a layered whole. Finesse and sophistication co-exist in a vacuum where waves crash upon one another in great open space, with no shore for to finish. If you would like to experience chardonnay in a way you’ve not likely done before than swim all the way out, well offshore, all in, all the way to this place. Turn around and off into the deep distance, gaze upon the strand. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted October 2022.
James Suckling
95 Points
Aromas of sliced lemon, crushed thyme, green apple and flint. Medium-bodied, but don’t let that fool you, because this is so expressive and vibrant on the palate. Complex, too. It rides the line between fresh and nutty wonderfully. Succulent, bright and persistent. A pleasure. Sustainable. Drink or hold.
Vinous
95 Points
The 2020 Chardonnay Stellenbosch comes from a single vineyard in Helderberg just above the Cabernet. This has a wonderful, slightly flinty bouquet with outstanding precision. The palate is very well balanced with a perfect line of acidity, extremely pure, hints of white peach and orange pith, augmented by grapefruit and crushed stone of the finish that's as nervous as a child with stage fright doing school panto for the first time. Brilliant.
- White Wine
- Cinsault
- Sustainable
- Dry
- Residual Sugar: 1.7 g/l
- Full Bodied
- 750ml
- 13% alc./vol
About the Winery
Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines
Mullineux Family Wines, established in 2007 in the Swartland region of South Africa, is owned and managed by Chris and Andrea Mullineux. Since its inception the winery has established itself as one of South Africa’s most celebrated wine brands, both locally and internationally. Originally from 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.
To add to their acclaim, Andrea Mullineux was named Wine Enthusiast’s Winemaker of the Year in 2016 and in 2016 Chris & Andrea were Tim Atkin’s South African Winemakers of the Year. . By focusing on producing handcrafted wines from the granite and shale based soils of the Swartland and it is quickly becoming South Africa's wine frontier. Located an hour's drive away from Stellenbosch, the Swartland is rolling hills of wheat and jagged outcrops of old vines.
Press Reviews
WineAlign
95 Points - Michael Godel
Leeu Passant cinsault comes from South Africa’s oldest registered vineyard and was only allowed to be harvested by the Mullineuxs in the third year (after signing the lease). Rehabilitation and dedication to an old vines commitment came first for a block that essentially was previously farmed for the “coop." Now 132 years old, a grand old block of gnarly vines that have lived through many parochial and world wars. You must chew the outside skin of this cinsault to get at the inner flesh, to release its resins, natural flavours and essential oils. Tannic and tongue tripping, piqued with resolved spice and feeling vey mature. Open tank, whole cluster, malo made, like the days of yore. Hard not to see this as anything but mature, wise and known for understanding. With time got behind the more pleasant its attributes, the more persuasive it will be. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted October 2022.
- White Wine
- Chenin Blanc
- Sustainable
- Dry
- Residual Sugar: 2 g/l
- Full Bodied
- 750ml
- 13% alc./vol
About the Winery
Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines
Mullineux Family Wines, established in 2007 in the Swartland region of South Africa, is owned and managed by Chris and Andrea Mullineux. Since its inception the winery has established itself as one of South Africa’s most celebrated wine brands, both locally and internationally. Originally from 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.
To add to their acclaim, Andrea Mullineux was named Wine Enthusiast’s Winemaker of the Year in 2016 and in 2016 Chris & Andrea were Tim Atkin’s South African Winemakers of the Year. . By focusing on producing handcrafted wines from the granite and shale based soils of the Swartland and it is quickly becoming South Africa's wine frontier. Located an hour's drive away from Stellenbosch, the Swartland is rolling hills of wheat and jagged outcrops of old vines.
Press Reviews
Wine Align - John Szabo, MS
95 Points
Roundstone is the name of the Mulineux's estate vineyard, based on shallow schists, very poor, with little water penetration, leading to smaller canopies, smaller bunches, smaller berries, "Bonsai vines", with bunches up to 30% lighter by weight than the Mullineux's chenin grown on granites, another single soil exploration of a trilogy. The power is evident on the nose, with striking stoniness and more evolved yellow fruit profile than the granite, also honeyed and waxy. Schist is always about 0.5 grams lower TA than Granite, around 5.8 TA at 3.3 pH, versus 3.2 on the granites. But in both cases phenolics bring additional freshness, texture and tension. This is the wine for fans of density and weight, like a Wachau smaragd grüner, with palpable phenolics (tannins). It has immense staying power. Tasted twice in September 2022 and April 2023.
Wine Align - Michael Godel
95 Points
Roundstone, aka “ronde steen or rondklip” in Afrikaans but the farm is known by its English name. Another Western Cape account for struggling grapes while here the matter involves smaller canopies, clusters and grapes. The vineyard begets and raises a child of the land's stony "dakteëls," roof tiles where everything slides and so the tannins accentuate to procure wines of a certain toughness. This child is street smart and battle ready, got into a few fights in the early days, now able stand up for itself no matter the attack or the scene. Aromatically speaking there is a cheese rind scent in the dry comports of extreme aridity, resulting in intensity and directivity. A slightly higher pH makes this the sapid one, sliding across the palate with its über fresh scathe. This will age with the best of them, more like structured reds but so very capable as chenin blanc. Drink 2024-2034. Tasted October 2022.
Robert Parker
93 Points
The 2021 Schist Chenin Blanc offers more energy and aromatics on the nose than the previous vintage, with a focused and fresh expression that reveals dusty citrus blossom, wax melon and Meyer lemon. Medium-bodied and less broad-shouldered than the 2020 vintage bottling, the mouthfeel is creamy and textured before it unwinds over the juicy and fresh finish.