Mullineux wine talk and tasting at the No1. Lady's Opera house

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Friday July 10, 2009 00:00

Chris Mullineux, the son of Dr John Mullineux, paediatrician at the Gaborone Private Hospital, and wife Andrea, have become wine makers. They have started a label called MULLINEUX FAMILY WINES, established in 2007 whose first finished products are being rolled out to the world this month.

The couple are coming to Gaborone this Friday and will give a talk on the making of their three brands of wines, namely; a barrel fermented White Blend of Chenin blanc, Grenache blanc, Clairette and Viognier.

The second brand is a perfumed Syrah, sourced from nine different vineyards, matured in second and third fill demi-muids.

Their third wine is a super rich Straw Wine made from air dried Chenin blanc, fermented and matured in old barriques. According to the couple's website, the wines are due for release this month onwards.

The couple will bring some wines to taste specifically a white blend and a syrah, according to the No1 lady's Opera House's David Slater, who views this as a very interesting opportunity to learn about the making of wine and to taste the result!
 Snacks will be provided as well while more wine will be on sale on the evening, from 6pm. Entry fee is P50.

While the Mullineux family wines managers admit they came into the business at a very difficult time, their philosophy is to forge a path at a time when most importers, distributors, retailers and restaurants are cutting back rather than looking out for the next best thing. There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for the South African couple. 'Though we are only now starting to sell our first vintage, we have been working on building relationships from the day we harvested our first grapes, and when our wines were ready to be released we had built some momentum'.

'We're proud to announce that our first shipment of wine has just arrived in Holland, and will be sold by Wine Matters. We also have a shipment on the water, headed for Berry Brothers & Rudd in the UK, and will be shipping our first batch to Wein & Sein in Switzerland in the next couple of weeks.' They have just returned from a marketing trip to United States of America (US), which they refer to as the Land of Milk and Honey (and Bailouts). 'We started in Paso Robles, California, pouring our wines at the 2009 Hospice du Rhone. This was the first time we presented our wines to the public, and what better place than amongst our peers from around the world.'

'The US will be an important market for us, as we already visit there twice a year, giving us a natural advantage over most South African wineries for who the US is literally on the other side of the world,' the couple says in their website.

They have also taken their wines to London for the London Wine Fair, and poured the wines at a press tasting for Berry Brothers.

Chris was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and introduced to the world of wine while studying accountancy at the University of Stellenbosch. After braving his way through accounting, he enrolled into winemaking for a second degree, and on graduating took a position starting up a boutique organic winery in Tulbagh, where he was in charge of the vineyards and cellar for five very enjoyable years.

In addition to stints at de Trafford and Rustenburg wineries, Chris has also worked harvests in Cote Rotie, Bandol, and the Languedoc and in the Roussillon. Over the years, Chris has had good exposure to the people, vineyards and wines of the Swartland. 

Andrea developed her passion for wine at the family dinner table while she was growing up in San Francisco. After finishing her degree in Viticulture and Oenology at the University of California, and completing a handful of harvests in the Napa Valley, Andrea decided to broaden her winemaking knowledge overseas.

Her first stop was in Stellenbosch, South Africa. She then went on to work in Chateauneuf-du-Pape where, on the same trip, she met Chris at a wine festival in Champagne.

Andrea's love for South African wine (and Chris) brought her back to South Africa where they learnt that their compatibility extended into the vineyards and cellar.