Mullineux Syrah 2017
I’ve had a few faulty wines this week...
...and was desperate to drink something guaranteed to be good. Enter Mullineux Syrah, courtesy of Vino Pronto.
I took full advantage of a new found friend, and asked him to share his tasting notes with me. I'm amazed at his ability to summarise the wine without throwing the entire lexicon at it.
The Wine:
Cassidy's Notes: Elegant, red and black fruited, peppery, fragrant lily aromas; a juxtaposition of New World and Old. Elegance, not power are the hallmark to this wine. Drink now or hold (I still have the maiden 2008 in my cellar).
My notes: Medium ruby with a pronounced nose of mulberries, blackberries, cassis, earthy beetroot, prickly pear fruit, pepper, vanilla, leather, violets (turns out lilies are a good alternative too….almost better for their musky property), dark chocolate with marshmallows, and a weirdly over ripe hollow watery orange note….weird, but in a good way.
Dry, medium bodied, medium+ acidity, medium dusty tannins….I probably shouldn’t have wolfed down a Snickers bar just before tasting this so it’s really just dark berries, a little orange again, and fynbos. Medium+ finish that’s very herbal.
Viti & Vini:
The grapes are sourced from seven sustainably farmed vineyards in different parts of the Swartland. 90% of the grapes are whole bunch fermented. All the grapes are fermented with natural yeasts. The wines spent 14 months in French oak - 225 litre and 500 litre barrels, as well as 2000 litre foudre. 15% of these barrels are new oak. No fining or filtering.
Conclusion:
Balance (1) + Length (1) + Intensity (½) + Complexity (1) = A very good wine.
Drink now, but has potential for further ageing.
Final Thoughts:
I was spoiled rotten at the Mullineux Franschhoek terroir tasting at the beginning of the year. The memory of their Iron Syrah will probably never die until I blow my budget on a bottle or two. I can’t help but compare, and long for the bloody ferrous quality of that single terroir wine. I know that this blended Syrah contains some of those Malmesbury grapes…but no amount of searching reveals anything slightly macabre.
This is, of course, a wonderful wine that deserves to stand independently and by its own merits. But this is the reason why I can’t seem to save fast enough for Level 4…Iron Syrah - I will see you as soon as this wine lockdown ends.
Devoured with relish on a Leaf Day according to the Biodynamic Calendar for the SH.