2017 Mullineux Straw Wine Swartland Mullineux Wines 37,5cl

Chris & Andrea Mullineux are famous for their 'Straw' wines, for which carefully selected Chenin Blanc grapes are air-dried for many months before fermentation. A fantastic example of the passito style. Luscious and intense on the palate - the purity of fruit is outstanding: orange peel, lemon acidity and ripe apricot flavours coat the palate.

Dried peach stones, apricot tart, dried mangoes, caramelized oranges, creme brulee, banoffee pie, a touch of citrus, orange marmalade and creme caramel. Sweet with a dense, full, oily texture, but there's some lovely, high acidity right at the back of the palate. Drink now.

The 2017 Straw Wine has a fresh and vibrant core of apricot and stone fruit and displays soft oak tones with fresh, sweet corn and honeysuckle flowers. On the luscious palate, the wine is sweet with focused golden raisins, candied green apple, peach blossoms and honeycomb. The finish is voluptuous and velvety with a clean and long-lasting experience that exhibits an excellent focus and precision in winemaking. 2019-2045.

The 2017 Straw Wine comes from two vineyards picked at 22 to 23 Balling and laid out beneath trees at the Roundstone winery, where it dried for three weeks. It was matured for 11 months in neutral oak with around 310gm/L residual sugar and 11 gm/L total acidity. It has a very pure nose of honey, mango, quince and tangerine - very perfumed as usual. The palate is well balanced and strangely, the first facet you perceive is actually the acidity rather than the sweetness. This is very tangy, perhaps fresher than recent vintages, with a persistent, effervescent finish. (375 ml.) 2019 - 2035.

An intense sweet wine, with laser focus to the range of apricot, caramelized peach and persimmon flavors. Unctuous in feel, yet allied to a racy spine of tangerine zest, ginger and green tea that lets the exotic fruit linger endlessly. Chenin Blanc. Drink now through 2035. From South Africa.- J.M.