MICHAEL FRIDJHON: Some evocative new wines for those with deep pockets

In significantly less than two decades Andrea and Chris Mullineux created an almost unrivalled fine wine enterprise.

The volumes are not big but then neither their chosen style nor the constraints of their production method favour a place in the popular wine market. The positioning, however, is unashamedly high-end, with the average price point in their two main ranges about R1,000 a bottle on release.

Based in the Swartland, they initially made shiraz and chenin their chosen cultivars. They selected sites with different soil profiles and built the message of the geology into their branding. Their wines come to market with names like “Schist” or “Granite” writ bold on the front labels.

About 10 years ago they were joined by a partner who owned properties in Franschhoek. Accordingly a new enterprise was launched, replete with its own branding and a vastly different vinous vision. The wines — which are sold under the Leeu Passant label — celebrated SA’s old vine heritage. In addition to their focus on old vine sites, they elected to use some more traditional production techniques.

Obviously they could never slavishly follow the methods used by the old-timers — their winemaking is both intensely scientific and shamelessly precise. Nevertheless the Leeu Passant range was originally sold on the pitch that it would incorporate the winemaking approach of that bygone era. For the red blend — the flagship of the range — this included harvesting and co-fermenting cabernet and cinsaut, thus creating the composite at the instant the grapes were crushed.

That was 10 years ago, and much has changed since then: the cinsaut, which was meant to be a key component of the wine, is now down to 10%, and is the only certified old vine fruit in the brand’s top range. Co-fermentation has also been abandoned. In its current iteration Leeu Passant has become a high-end negociant operation (no different from the approach of the major Burgundy and Champagne houses) managing vineyards rather than owning them and making the best wine possible from the resources at their disposal.

With the latest releases about to come to market, Andrea Mullineux presented a trio of vintages of each of their key Leeu Passant wines to give some context to what is now on offer. This meant showing the 2021 Chardonnay alongside the 2019 and 2017, the 2021 Stellenbosch Cabernet next to the 2020 and 2019, and the 2020 blend in a line-up with the 2019 and the 2018. This wine incidentally is simply called “Leeu Passant” to distinguish it from the Leeu Passant Chardonnay and the Leeu Passant Cabernet. If you’re in the market for wine at R1,800 a bottle presumably you’ll have no difficulty working this out.

The 2021 Chardonnay (a relative bargain at R850) is still embryonic, giving away very little at this stage of what is destined to be a long and probably interesting life. The 2017 has only just begun to open and shows great precision and linearity. As with all their wines, the focus is on fruit purity and elegance. Anyone looking for a more Rubenesque expression — along the lines of a Meursault — will be disappointed. But if grand cru Chablis is your beverage of choice you should consider this an alternative.

The Leeu Passant Cabernet 2021 is perfectly good, if somewhat unexceptional: the fruit is fine, the tannins perfectly managed, the finish polished. Everything in fact that you would expect from a wine made by Andrea Mullineux. But it isn’t memorable, and there is no reason — other than the prestige of the label — to buy it at more than R400 per bottle.

If you’re aiming for the high point of the range, you’ll have to ascend to the R1,800 price peak and acquire the 2020 Leeu Passant Leeu Passant. Here the cabernet franc component gives the wine real linearity, the cabernet sauvignon classical promise, and the old vine cinsaut savoury tension. Already it is pretty, potentially it is nuanced and evocative. Those with deep pockets will probably find it worth the wait.