2023 Leeu Passant Stellenbosch Chardonnay

Product Description

Founded in 2013, the Leeu Passant wines are a partnership between Analjit Singh of Leeu Estates and Chris and Andrea Mullineux. Analjit visited South Africa for the first time in 2010 for the FIFA World Cup, fell in love with the winemaking culture in Franschhoek and never left. He subsequently bought into Mullineux and appointed Chris and Andrea as winemakers for his Leeu Estates. This enabled them to work with fruit from Franschhoek, Stellenbosch and other regions beyond Swartland. Chris explains, “Rosa Kruger, our viticulturist, had for years been enthusing to us about various parcels of fruit, but as they were outside the Swartland, we couldn’t use them in Mullineux,”

Rosa Kruger, hailed as “the queen of the Cape’s old vines” by Tim Atkin MW, is almost single-handedly responsible for finding and saving many of the Cape’s most venerable vineyards. Rosa also works with Fairview in Paarl and Gabriëlskloof in Walker Bay, but lives in Riebeek-Kasteel in Swartland, where she is a neighbour of Chris and Andrea’s. The Mullineux’s had been keen to work with old-vine fruit, so were excited when Rosa pointed them in the direction of two of the oldest registered red wine vineyards in South Africa, planted with dry-farmed Cinsault bush vines. The ‘Basson’ vineyard was planted in 1900 (during the Boer War) near Wellington on deep sandy alluvial soils, while the ‘Lötter’ vineyard was planted in 1932 on the lower eastern slopes of the Franschhoek mountains. “We wanted to tap into the heritage of the great Cape wines of the 1950s and 1960s and retain their best parts but make them in a modern, non-interventionist manner” explains Chris. Both the Old Vines ‘Basson’ Cinsault and Old Vines ‘Lötter’ Cinsault are 100% whole bunch fermented, which gives them lifted aromas and tannins that drive the fruit through the palate. They are, quite simply, masterpieces.

The Stellenbosch Chardonnay is sourced from a vineyard planted in the deep loam-rich soils of the strongly maritime-influenced Helderberg Mountain. The fruit is hand-picked, whole bunch pressed, and barrel fermented (30% new oak) with indigenous yeasts, after which the wine is aged for 20 months. It is elegant, intense, mealy and smoky, with lovely balance and length.