Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
So fragrant, this has ripe cherries, white pepper, dried roses, green olives and Christmas spices on the nose. It shows wonderful freshness and a deliciously peppery character to the bright fruit. Medium-bodied with tight, crunchy tannins. 80% whole-bunch fermentation. Even better after 2025.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Mullineux 2022 Swartland Syrah comes from a site with quartz formations over schist soils. Quartz tends to erode at a different pace, leaving quartz stones on the surface that reflect light but do not reflect heat. This leads to optimal ripening, with soft cherry and blackberry flavors followed by lightly toasted spice. There is a ferrous note to the wine followed by fine, satiny tannins that have a certain lusciousness about them. The wine sees 80% whole-cluster fruit and is fermented in upright wooden vats. Andrea Mullineux says she is looking for the silky tannins that are specific to the Swartland. "Those tannins are a real fingerprint of the region,".
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Vinous
The 2022 Syrah is a combination of fruit from the three main soil types. It fermented with 80% whole cluster in upright 5,000-liter wooden vats, with the destemmed fruit at the top to get the fermentation going. It has a crisp and precise bouquet with brambly red fruit, a dash of white pepper and Provençal herbs. Quite powerful, the palate is medium-bodied with a slightly viscous texture. That white pepper note thrusts forward through the robust, austere finish. This is a gutsy Syrah that will probably benefit from a year in bottle.
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.