2016 Mullineux Quartz Chenin Blanc
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Tasting notes
The 2016 Quartz Chenin "Leliefontein" has a very perfumed bouquet of honeysuckle, dried peach, marmalade and light yellow plum. The palate is well balanced with crisp acidity, notes of yellow plum, mandarin, white pepper and hints of bitter lemon lending tension toward the finish. This would be my pick of the Mullineuxs’ white 2016s.
Critic scores
Average Score
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
Every year they make a Quartz, a Granite and a Schist but they do not bottle all three every year. White and reflective soils – sunshine from below as well as above. ‘You can taste the sunshine’ says Andrea Mullineux even though the fruit is not riper. Granite tends to be more perfumed. Neutral barrel ferment and all 500 litre. This smells salty and more zesty citrus than the Old Vines Chenin 2017, less stone fruit. Very tight and salty on the palate too but with a more crystalline, finer texture than the Mullineux Old Vines. Lovely dry texture. Piercing and long. (JH)
About the producer
Chris and Andrea Mullineux were at the forefront of South Africa’s new-wave movement and are now one of the country’s most established names. Alongside the Swartland project that made their name, they make wines in Franschhoek under the Leeu Passant name – a tribute to South Africa’s vinous past.