Leeu Passant Old Vines `Basson` Wellington Cinsault is a premium wine that boasts exceptional quality and depth. Crafted from the finest old vines, this wine showcases the unique and diverse terroir of Wellington, South Africa. It is aged for 12 months in oak barrels, allowing for complex layers to develop over time. On the nose, it exudes aromas of cherry, raspberry, and black currant, with subtle hints of spice. The palate is smooth and elegant, with a soft tannin structure that makes it easy to drink. This wine is perfect to pair with grilled meats or hearty stews and is sure to impress even the most discerning of wine enthusiasts.

Tasting Notes

This aromatic wine has an alluring and complex nose which opens with notes of roses, cranberries, cherries, spice and a hint of thyme. The palate is fresh and silky in texture, with notes of orange peel, rhubarb, maraschino cherries, pink peppercorns and cloves. Fine tannins give great structure and an enticing mouthfeel to the wine.

About the Winery

The Mullineux family, quite well known in the South African wine market, set up their label, Mullineux Family Wines, in 2007. Chris and Andrea Mullineux managed this estate from one of the wine-rich regions of South Africa, Swartland. For quite some time, the couple was trying to use the potential of wines from the regions outside Swartland for their label. The search ended in 2013.

This was when Chris and Andrea joined hands with Analjit Singh. The company got renamed Mullineux and Leeu Family Wines. Leeu Passant is the new project of this renamed company. The wine cellar of this project is located in Franschhoek’s Leeu Estates. Chris and Andrea, through Leeu Passant, aim to make the most of the potential of the wine regions outside Swartland, but maintain the same quality and tradition of winemaking as followed in their family vineyards.

The name Leeu Passant, in the local dialect refers to a walking or roaming lion. The team calls itself the roaming lions that walk across the Cape to look for the best parcels to plant vines. It is only apt that the logo of the Leeu Estate is also that of a roaming lion.

Wines from Leeu Passant are aimed at representing the richness of the Cape as a whole. So they make use of grapes grown from multiple leased vineyards. Only those vineyards with exceptional terroirs, soil quality and climatic conditions are chosen to make premium wines. Some of the vineyards used for making these wines are:

Those planted on the lower slopes of the Franschhoek Mountains
Ancient vines planted in Wellington
Those located on the higher and lower slopes of Helderberg Mountains and Polkadraai Hills in Stellenbosch

While the first two (Wellington and Franschhoek) are used to source Cinsault, the last one (Helderberg) is used to source Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Sustainable winemaking is followed in all these vineyards.

https://mlfwines.com/leeupassant

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