Mullineux Family Wines Schist Syrah 2016
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Wine &
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Wine
Spectator -
Robert
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Wine & Spirits
Andrea and Chris Mullineux have been exploring Swartland’s varied soils since they settled in Riebeek Kasteel in 2007. Their explorations have led to an array of single-parcel wines, like this one, off a parcel of 17-year-old vines rooted in shale and schist on the Kasteelberg. The 2016, foot-stomped as whole bunches in open-topped barrels and fermented with ambient yeasts, spent four weeks on the skins before it was pressed and racked into barrels, where it rested 21 months. There’s not a hint of wood in the wine: It’s all pure raspberry flavor, spicy and rich, complemented by fine-grit tannins that give it heft and substance. Notes of herbs, earth and tapenade suggest parallels to the Rhône, though it radiates a different sort of warmth. While it’s elegant and restrained, a pleasure to drink now, it has the structure to hold it for another 15 years.
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Decanter
The most structured and dense of Andrea and Chris Mullineux's wines, this comes from a parcel of 20-year-old vines on the Roundstone farm in Kasteelberg. It has bold yet polished tannins with generous, sweet oak spice from 21 months in barrels and foudres, plus foundation for ageing in its fresh acidity. It has a great concentration of pure, mineral-laden red berry fruits, savoury meaty tones and black pepper spice. Drinking Window 2021 - 2030
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and still a bit compact, with a core of plum paste and raspberry preserve notes still coiled up. Lots of mouthwatering anise, apple wood and tobacco elements are milling around, giving this cut and energy. Just needs time to unfurl fully. Best from 2022 through 2026.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Schist Syrah is mineral-driven on the nose with dark fruit, a dusty expression, subtle herbs and soft floral and violet aromas. Medium to full-bodied, the palate shows a grippy structure that is pleasing now but will improve over time. A bold yet elegant wine with an expression that echoes that of the Northern Rhône, this is a beautiful, mineral-driven Syrah with texture and finesse, ending with a clean and correct finish with a tight tannic grip.
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Wine
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Wine &
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Robert
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Wine &
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Robert
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We are a small, highly focused Family winery based in the village of Riebeek Kasteel producing a select Family of hand-crafted wines from the granite and shale based terroirs of the Swartland Region of South Africa.
The Swartland is a beautiful and wild place. The landscape is a series of rolling hills, with a few significant outcrops of rock that form the Paardeberg, Riebeek Kasteel and Piketberg Mountains. It is not an easy place to establish vines, and is a region that has as much of an influence on the vineyards and people who farm there as the people have on the land itself. This brings to mind what film director David von Ancken has to say about the old American West: "The primal, universal power of the landscape strips away everything but the truth of men's souls." In much the same way, we feel the Swartland landscape bares the souls of grape vines, and in those varieties that can take the ruggedness, true personality of site is revealed.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Literally meaning "the black land," Swartland takes its name from the endangered, indigenous "renosterbos" (translating to rhino bush), which used to be plentiful enough to turn the entire landscape a dark color certain during times of year. The district, attracting some of the most adventurous and least interventionist winemakers, excels in robust and full-bodied reds as well as quality fortified wines.