Mullineux Old Vines White Blend 2022

Mullineux is a highly focused family winery based near the village of Riebeek Kasteel in the Swartland region. 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, Kasteelberg and Piketberg mountains.
After working several vintages at wineries in France, South Africa and California, Chris and Andrea Mullineux chose to settle in the Swartland, firmly believing that the granite and schist based terroirs and old vineyards of the region have the potential to produce great wine. And so, in 2007, Mullineux Family Wines was established.
Chris and Andrea identified a group of vineyards in interesting parts of the Swartland region which are mostly located around the shale- and schist-based Riebeek Kasteel mountains and the granite-based Paardeberg mountain. Vineyards are planted with grapes varieties which are mostly Mediterranean in origin and ideally suited to the environment. The Swartland is also perfectly suited to natural methods of farming with very low summer rainfall and evening breezes off the Atlantic Ocean. Vineyards are often planted amongst the natural Renosterveld and fynbos which provide refuge for predators of vineyard pests and help reduce the spread of disease. Weeds struggle to establish themselves and spread, making it easier to control them without the need for herbicides.

This wine is a blend of 74% Chenin Blanc, 8% Clairette Blanche, 6% Grenache Blanc, 7% Viognier, 2% Semillon Gris, 2% Viura, 1% Verdelho from seven sustainably-farmed vineyard parcels in different parts of the Swartland: one parcel of forty-one-year-old Chenin and a parcel of eleven-year-old Grenache Blanc on the stony Schist based soils of the Kasteelberg; two parcels of forty to sixty-five-year-old dry land bush vine Chenin, one parcel of forty-four-year- old Clairette Blanche and a sixty-year-old heritage Semillon Gris vineyard grown on the decomposed Granite of the Paardeberg; and a parcel of twenty-one-year-old Viognier on the iron-rich soils of the rolling hills west of Malmesbury.