Mullineux Family Wines Leeu Passant Chardonnay 2017
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Robert
Parker
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Best served at 10-12° C, this wine will show optimally when decanted within the first 3 years after bottling and will reward if cellared properly over 10 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Instantly impressive in the glass, the 2017 Leeu Passant Stellenbosch Chardonnay starts with aromas of ripe, round and fresh citrus and orchard fruit, compounded by elegant oak spices and seductive notions of a graham cracker crust, popcorn kernel, citrus blossom and lemon pastry cream. Medium-bodied, the palate is impeccably balanced, with succulent acidity, a round mouthfeel and silky mid-palate. As the wine sits on the palate, flavors of white peach, underripe pineapple, Marcona almonds and poached yellow apples over cardamom madeleines unfold in the mouth. The wine grows and reveals layers of complexity over the long, lingering finish. Bravo! They have captured beauty and finesse in this bottle.
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2018-
Robert
Parker
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James
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Robert
Parker
We are a small, highly focused Family winery based in the village of Riebeek Kasteel producing a select Family of hand-crafted wines from the granite and shale based terroirs of the Swartland Region of South Africa.
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, Riebeek Kasteel and Piketberg Mountains. It is not an easy place to establish vines, and is a region that has as much of an influence on the vineyards and people who farm there as the people have on the land itself. This brings to mind what film director David von Ancken has to say about the old American West: "The primal, universal power of the landscape strips away everything but the truth of men's souls." In much the same way, we feel the Swartland landscape bares the souls of grape vines, and in those varieties that can take the ruggedness, true personality of site is revealed.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
South Africa’s most famous wine-producing district, Stellenbosch, surrounds the historic town with the same name; fine winemaking here dates back to the late 1600s. Its valleys of granite, sandstone and alluvial loam soils between the towering blue-grey mountains of Stellenbosch, Simonsberg and Helderberg have the capacity to produce beautiful wines from many varieties. The climate is warm Mediterranean, tempered by the cool Atlantic air of nearby False Bay.
Perhaps most well-known for its Pinotage and Bordeaux blends, Stellenbosch also produces noteworthy wines from Syrah, Chenin blanc, Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc. The district’s wards—Banghoek, Bottelary, Devon Valley, Jonkershoek Valley, Papegaaiberg, Polkadraai Hills and Simonsberg-Stellenbosch—all produce distinctive wines from vines with relatively low yields.