Needs Time: SA Syrah
Having revisited Mullineux’s deliciously sweet Straw Wine last month, I thought it was time to review their collection of wines made from the Syrah grape, the mainstay of reds from the Northern Rhône.
A few bottles of wine were acquired from Berry’s, all from the 2018 vintage: Mullineux Syrah, Mullineux Granite Syrah, and Mullineux Iron Syrah.
Tasted the wines twice over the last week. One at a panel tasting, and one over supper to provide some context to the extravagant flavours and to see how they would work with food.
The panel were hugely enthusiastic about all three! The richness, the concentration, the way they evolved in the glass over an hour, made us go back time and time again .... just to make sure. The entry level wine was very well, but could do with a couple more years, and the two single parcel wines definitely needed at least another 5 years, but would both progress to 2040 without any problem.
The following evening, I decanted all three wines around 3 hours before they were served with a delicious filet of beef, new potatoes, plus an array of bright summer salads. A scrummy, summer supper sitting in the garden.
They all tasted wonderfully good - full tasting notes below - and I had added to the mix a 2010 Côte-Rôtie from Tardieu Laurent in magnum as a quasi benchmark, and the three wines from Mullineux outshone the Northern Rhône with significant aplomb.
These are expensive wines. However, I feel the entry-level Syrah represents very good value alongside many wines from Crozes-Hermitage. The Granite and Iron represent exceptional value alongside Hermitage and Côte Rôtie wines from very well-known and acclaimed Rhône producers.
Mullineux 2018 Syrah
Berrys - £32.00
Deep, deep red with a strongly classic Syrah nose: black raspberry, black pepper and cured meats. Slow to open up, but once it has sat in the glass, the rich evolving texture demonstrated a wine of high precision extolling near perfect balance. Plums, herbs, even a touch of spice with a resounding finish. Drink from 2024 until 2030.
Mullineux 2018 Granite Syrah
Berrys - £75.00
Almost black in colour, this wine needs some considerable time to deliver its full potential. If you have a birthday during the autumn or winter, then buy this to sit alongside whatever wondrous casserole has emerged from your kitchen and allow the wine to bring harmony and delight to your table. Savoury and elegant with a richness that entices the palate. Single parcel of land planted in the late 1980s in the deep decomposed Granitic soil of the Paardeberg. Drink 2025 to 2040.
Mullineux 2018 Iron Syrah
Berrys - £75.00 - case price.
Tighter than the Granite with a touch more acidity. Again, deep concentration of flavours that remind you of ripe plums, herbs, and pepper all backed with raspberries and strong blackcurrants. It needs a lot of time. Drink 2027 to 2045.
Mullineux is a husband and wife team making very high quality wines. Chris studied at Stellenbosch, and then worked in Côte Rôtie, Bandol, Languedoc, Rousillon, and California. Andrea is from California and studied viticulture and oenology at UC Davis, working in California, Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Stellenbosch. Apparently they met at a wine festival in Champagne!
Swartzland is situated 25 miles north of Cape Town. Oxford Companion to Wine states, ‘since the late 1990s, has attracted some of the country’s most adventurous and least interventionist winemakers’. I need to do some further research on the region if these wines are a benchmark for what can be achieved.
