2015 Mullineux Schist Syrah
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Tasting notes
Grapes were chilled, then whole bunches were put into 500-litre open-top French oak barrels and foot-trodden. Minimal SO 2 was added and no further additions were made. After about 4 days, fermentation began with ambient yeasts and lasted about 10 days. A further four weeks of skin contact, after which the wine was drained and pressed to barrel for malolactic fermentation and maturation. Pigeage once a day before, during and after fermentation. In spring, the wine was racked to 500-litre French oak barrels (25% new) for 12 months, followed by 9 months in second-fill foudres. Longer oak-ageing than the regular bottling. After a total of 21 months in barrel, the wine was bottled unfiltered and unfined. Natural cork. Tasted blind. Heady, rich, very old style! But juicy, with lots of flashy (as opposed to restrained) appeal. (JR)
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
The 2015 Syrah Schist has a wonderful, nuanced, complex bouquet that I would happily place in any lineup of top Syrahs from the Rhône. So nuanced, so mineral and delineated, this just blossoms in the glass. The palate is beautifully balanced with fine tannins, judiciously spiced with white pepper and sage. Highly complex, terroir-driven and delicious, this is a Syrah that delivers on all fronts at 10 years of age. It easily surpasses the bottle drunk just after bottling. World. Class. Syrah. Tasted blind at the 10-Year-On horizontal in London.
The 2015 Schist Syrah Roundstone has a raspberry and mulberry bouquet, touches of rose petal and sous-bois emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, quite saline, and almost briny in the mouth. The grippy finish suggests it will require another couple of years in bottle.
Fuller, fleshier nose than the Granite version. Salty and polished. (JR)
About the producer
Chris and Andrea Mullineux were at the forefront of South Africa’s new-wave movement and are now one of the country’s most established names. Alongside the Swartland project that made their name, they make wines in Franschhoek under the Leeu Passant name – a tribute to South Africa’s vinous past.