Plenty of bleak looking revolutionaries awaited us at breakfast on Saturday morning. We ducked out at 12 the night before, but others decided it’s a good idea to go into day 2 with only 2 or 3 hours’ worth of sleep and a hangover. (Read about Day 1 here) The breakfast burgers and coffee sorted everyone out quickly, however, and we stepped into the 1st seminar of the day – Mullineux Magic. The Mullineux’s are having a great time of it, with 3 five star wines and 2 four star wines in the 2012 Platter. Whatever your feelings are of the Platter’s ratings, the wines speak for themselves.

The seminar was hosted by Tim James – a big supporter of the Swartland – who wasted no time in telling us how the Mullineux’s (Chris and Andrea) brought respectability to the area (and the 1st woman!), after party animals Eben Sadie and Adi Badenhorst settled there. He referred to Charles Back’s Spice Route as the first of the new wave of producers to enter the Swartland in 1997, who employed Eben as his wine maker. Eben escaped and the rest is history. Chris Mullineux made wine at Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards before moving to the Swartland, with wife Andrea, a Californian export, joining him to establish the Mullineux brand.

We tasted the components of the Mullineux White – Chenin Blanc from 2 different soil types (decomposed granite and schist), Viognier and Clairette Blanche. Each brought something unique to the blend. Decomposed granite is a very sandy soil type, but about one and a half meters deep a layer of clay is found, acting like a big sponge and supplying water to the vines. The Chenin Blanc grown on it gives the blend richness and texture. Schist is a type of slate, so the soil is quite rocky. The Chenin Blanc grown on the schist adds phenolics to the blend. Viognier adds a fruity edge, but can be so dominant that it never makes up more than 10% of the final blend. The Clairette Blanche is a pretty neutral wine, but Andrea referred to it as adding a waxy texture to the final product. Tasting the final product one could see how each component adds its worth, creating synergy and making the blend better than the sum of its parts.

Moving onto the reds, we tasted the 2009 Syrah, a 100% Syrah from 3 different soil types (schist, granite and red clay). Schist gave the final product texture and structure, the granite added perfume and femininity and finally, the red clay adds mid palate and weight. Chris said that in the past they crowed about how blending of reds is the way to go in the Swartland, but have since realized that it might not in fact be the case, with only the maiden 2008 having a dash of Mourvedre. They had been searching for single vineyards that they could bottle as a separate label, but found it difficult as often they were missing something (a mid-palate for instance). The search is however over. We were introduced to 2 single soil type bottlings, one from granite soils (named unsurprisingly the Granite Syrah) and the other from Schist soils (ahem.. the Schist Syrah). As with the blended Syrah, the Granite is quite feminine and perfumed, while the Schist is dense and brooding. These 2 wines are not single vineyards, but are single terroir wines, most definitely creating a serious talking point for wine geeks. The one thing that stood out for me about the reds is the level of freshness they showed. I am not a fan of warm climate reds as they tend to be jammy. The new wave producers of the Swartland pick earlier and on taste, not necessarily at phenolic ripeness, and it totally removes that jam.

We ended the seminar with a quick tasting of the Mullineux Straw Wine. Made from 2 Chenin vineyards, the same grapes that are used for the White is simply put down to dry under the trees. Freshness is very important for this sticky, so the 2 vineyards used are the ones with the best acidity. The wine is 30% sugar, but with the acidity in place, it is not cloying. We did indeed taste the sun.

A quick break for pizza and beer (we chased those with a bottle of bubbly at the Royal Hotel) was followed by the Expert Opinions seminar. Jorg Pfutzner, Michael Friedjhon and British wine writer Jamie Goode showed us a few of the wines they think would inspire us. I am not going to bore you with tasting notes, but here’s the line-up of wines – put this in your pipe and smoke it, counter Swartland revolutionaries and non-believers!

Jorg’s selection:

Matassa Blanc 2008 from Cotes Catalanes, Roussillon in France
Terroir Al Limit L’Arbossar 2007 from Priorat in Spain (Eben Sadie’s other venture)
Niepoort Batuta 2007 from Douro in Portugal

Jamie’s selection:
Le Soula Blanc 2006 from Cote de Fenoullides, Roussillon in France
Domaine Romaneaux-Destezet Syrah 2010 from Arlebosc, Northern Rhone in France
Arianna Occhipitini Frappato 2009 from Vittoria, Sicily in Italy

MF’s selection:

Domaine Gayda Chemin de Moscou 2008 from Brugairolles in France
Domaine Mathieu Cuvee Marquis Vignes Centenaires 2007 from Chateauneuf du Pape in France
Chateau Beaucastel 2005 from Chatexuneuf du Pape in France

Quite a selection and some very interesting wines for us wine geeks to get excited about. The theme that ran through this tasting was how fresh these warm climate wines all are. The Sicilian and Roussillon wines were firsts for me (even though MF thought the Sicilian was so full of brett (it was!) that it smelled like a dead rat (it didn’t!). Read about Brettanomyces here

We ended off the 2011 Revolution with a feast at Bar Bar Black Sheep (lamb on a spit and some other healthier goodies) and the wine flowed like… well… we felt like proper revolutionaries. The street party (open to the public) followed, and one could taste wine from all the members of the Swartland Independent. There are some fantastic artisan wines out there and your eyes will be opened when you taste them. Live a little; don’t keep drinking the same tried and tested wines you know well – introduce your palate to something different from the Swartland.

That was that for us for another year. This is by far the best wine event on the calendar. It caters for the wine geek, the party animal, the amateur wino, the expert wino and everyone in between. All you need is an open mind, a willing liver and an appetite. We made new friends, caught up with old ones, and partied up a storm. The only criticism that I can level at the 2011 event is that it was slightly over subscribed and that caused long, slow queues at the first night’s braai and the mid-morning beer and pizza break. I can understand the need to grow the event, but I hope the organisers resist the urge to grow more. I reckon 200 tickets should be the limit. That said, I wouldn’t miss the 2012 edition for the world!

www.theswartlandrevolution.com