Uncorked: Andrea Mullineux

Andrea Mullineux is the co-owner and winemaker at Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines in South Africa’s Swartland. A graduate at California UC Davis, Mullineux honed her skills in Napa Valley and Chateauneuf-du-Pape before returning to the Swartland with her husband Chris to open their winery in 2007. Aiming to make wines from Swartland that are honest reflections of its terroir, the estate bottles its wines based on soil type – granite, schist, iron and quartz. Speaking with dbHK, Mullineux talks about her literary idol Ernest Hemingway, her culinary skills and love of Nutella.

What vintage are you? 

1979 – considered one of the best Champagne vintages ever, so I definitely have an excuse to celebrate.

What bottle sparked your love of wine? 

I grew up drinking wine with dinner around the family table, but the first fine bottle that opened up my mind to nuance and balance was a 1980 Joseph Phelps Backus Cabernet Sauvignon. I was given the bottle by Professor Ann Noble, inventor of the wine wheel. When someone so important in the wine industry shares a bottle with you, it makes you dive deeper into the glass with your nose and palate.

What would you be as a wine? 

I aspire to one day become like a 1945 Huet Vouvray – seamlessly balanced between sweetness and acidity, loads of complexity, and impossible to tell the age, unless you ask (ha!).

Where are you happiest? 

I am the happiest when I am cooking for my family at home. I love making people happy with flavours put together with love, like in winemaking.

What’s your greatest vice? 

Nutella… with a spoon.

Best advice you ever got? 

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude” – Maya Angelou.

Your cellar’s underwater, which bottle would you dive in and save? 

Luckily wine ages very well under water!

What’s the best and worst thing about the wine business? 

You get paid like a pauper but live like a king. But seriously, for me the best part are the late nights of working together in the cellar or tasting blind bottles around a table. There is serious camaraderie in the wine industry and we all “get” each other.

What’s on your wine bucket list? 

I want to visit the original countries of winemaking such as Armenia and Georgia, to see where it all began.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party? 

Ernest Hemingway. He had a great appreciation for fine wine and based on his writing abilities, I bet he would be able to describe what is in the glass to perfection with a few perfect words. Then he would probably challenge someone to box, but we would just open up another bottle instead and discuss Picasso.

Personal satisfaction (Parker points – out of 100)?

No, that is impossible to answer. A winemaker is never satisfied. I try to do my best, and I will always try to improve on that. The exception being my children, I am genetically predisposed to think they are perfect!

Which wine would you like to be served at your funeral?

Anything in large format. We don’t drink wine from big bottles enough in life. Nothing shows more dedication to an evening than cracking open a Methuselah (6 litres) or 12.