Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines

Chris and Andrea Mullineux set up in the Swartland in 2007 with a conviction that the region's old dryland bush vines — Chenin Blanc and Syrah above all — could stand with the world's best. The signature is a series of single-soil bottlings that map the Swartland itself: Syrah and Chenin raised separately from granite, schist, and iron-rich sites, each vinified the same way so the ground does the talking. Winemaking is old-fashioned in the best sense — whole bunches, natural ferments, older oak — and the wines have carried South Africa's new-wave reputation about as far as it has traveled. Indian entrepreneur Analjit Singh joined as partner in 2013, adding the Leeu name and a Franschhoek home, but the heart of the cellar remains Swartland dirt.