Each year the panel and critics of Wine & Spirits blind-taste, review and score more than 15 000 wines from around the world, the most distinguished of which are shared with their readers. The Top 100 Wineries list for the year includes those that achieve the highest scores and consistency of performance across their range of wines for the year.
The wines that helped Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines achieve this rare accolade include their 97-point Mullineux Swartland Straw Wine 2017 and the 96-point Mullineux Swartland Schist Syrah 2016.
Andrea and Chris Mullineux will join winemakers from some of the world’s greatest vineyards to meet connoisseurs and consumers at the 16th Top 100 Annual Tasting hosted in San Francisco on 10th October this year and later at a similar tasting, the Top 100 Symposium, held in New York in January 2020.
Their Kloof Street and Mullineux ranges, based on Chenin Blanc, Syrah and various Rhone cultivars, are produced in the Swartland on Roundstone Farm, and aim to present a true expression of this special region from grapes best suited to the terroirs they are planted in.
Their Leeu Passant wines are made in their own captivating winery on Leeu Estates in Franschhoek, where grapes are sourced from exceptional parcels of vineyards both in Franschhoek and other exciting sites in the Western Cape including South Africa's oldest red wine vineyards.
The Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines team are no strangers to accolades. The winery has been the recipient of the Platter South African Wine Guide’s Winery of the Year Award no less than three times - in 2014, 2016 and the current 2019 edition. In 2016 Andrea Mullineux was chosen as Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s International Winemaker of the Year, while in 2017 British Master of Wine Tim Atkin’s South African Report named Chris and Andrea as Winemakers of the Year.
As always, Andrea’s approach to winemaking is minimalist but meticulous, while viticulture is expertly managed by Chris and his team, who farm as naturally and sustainably as possible.
Visitors can taste wines from the Mullineux Signature and Single Terroir ranges, along with the flagship portfolio of the Leeu Passant winery at the elegant Wine Studio situated on Leeu Estates in Franschhoek, open seven days a week.
Wine lovers in the USA can buy tickets for the Wine & Spirits Top 100 Tasting in San Francisco on Eventbrite for $135.
Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines both in the Swartland and in Franschhoek is a partnership between Andrea and Chris Mullineux and Leeu Collection founder Analjit Singh.
The Leeu Collection is the expression of founder Analjit Singh’s vision of an international portfolio of sophisticated hotel escapes and memorable experiences and comprises three five-star boutique properties in South Africa (Leeu Estates, a 17-room country house retreat and boutique winery in the Franschhoek valley; Leeu House, a 12-room hotel in the heart of Franschhoek village; and Le Quartier Français, a romantic 32-room hotel with two independent villas also located in the village); and Linthwaite House in Great Britain’s Lake District, a UNESO World Heritage Site.
For further information, please contact Nicolette Waterford on +27 82 807 4447 or email Nicolette.waterford@leeucollection.com.