Mullineux Roundstone 2023 is the first release of the red (there is also a white) made to exemplify the exceptional terroir of the Mullineux’s home Roundstone vineyard. This is the vineyard that produces their Schist Chenin Blanc and Schist Syrah wines that I have mentioned at least a number of times on this site.
As those two wines attest, it is clearly a great site. However, that at least two varietals perform enthusiastically in the Roundstone vineyard may suggest a monocepage wine will not display the full breadth of attributes of the terroir.
Consequently, the new Roundstone cuvées are endowed with the qualities of blends of varietals to show the vineyard’s full potency. This red Mullineux Roundstone 2023 comes from a single block of vines comprised of 50% Syrah, 25% Grenache and 25% Cinsault.
The makers contend that Mullineux Roundstone 2023 is a wine made for ageing; they suggested a couple of hours in a decanter if I were breaking the seal on one so young. I did this and, on this warm July evening, served it well-below room temperature. The Editor and I drank it with truffled pasta in a tomato and mascarpone sauce with a far from intemperate amount of micro-planed Parmesan.
Roundstone 2023, Mullineux
The nose is a dazzlingly complex but coherent whole. One does not get the sense that there are a throng of disparate components all vying for attention; it speaks with a unified voice. The voice of the Mullineux Roundstone 2023 is highly attractive and tells you that are going to have a lubriciously good time.
There is suave fruit, a debonaire savoury character, and an intense, untamed stoniness. Yes, I get the sense that this comes from a first-rate terroir; could I recognise that as being the same vineyard as the Mullineux’s Schist Chenin Blanc and Schist Syrah? I would be gustily rating my skills if I said, “Yes”. However, there is something of the schist of Côte-Rôtie’s Côte Brune about that primal stoniness.
All of these characteristics are completely unified in a congruent, fulsome entity. The aromas are so conjoined it takes the most intense nosing by both The Editor and me to tease them apart. Whilst we are doing this, I look at him with a smirk and ask, “Could it be a little hot?”
“You must be joking!”, he asserts. “It is completely reasonable, balanced and delicious.” I am bowed and chastened; I shall mention it no further.
The palate is tumescent with that savoury character; it is so god-damn satisfying! This, unashamedly, makes Mullineux Roundstone 2023 a red wine for people who lust after red wine!
This is not to say it is excessively hard, dry, or tannic. Oh no! It is tannic, but those tannins are sensually ripe and in pitch-perfect harmony with the sweet fruit and great energy of every delightful mouthful. The balance is superb, this will clearly age for 8, 9, 10, 11… paf! Certainly ‘many’ years.
I love the depth of flavour and its spicy richness (I will not say ‘spicy warmth’). If you do not ache for the complexity of how these all tie together in the Mullineux Roundstone 2023’s remarkably elegant package then, frankly, you are incapable of telling good from bad nor, indeed, do you know how to have a good time.
Seriously impressive length to the Mullineux Roundstone 2023. (It is nearly an hour after tasting the last drop that I am polishing the end of this piece, and I can still feel it going.) Those savoury, fruity, spicy, energetic, mineral flavours fill your palate even well after you swallow and leave you feeling a frisson of rapture.
What is not to love about this wine? It far surpasses the bar of ‘interesting and thought-provoking’, clean bowls ‘balanced and charming’ from a short run up and spanks the arse of ‘long and deliciously involute’ with a rubber paddle. It is a rarely paralleled triumph for a first iteration of a new cuvée!
This is the most fun I have had with The Editor and a young Mullineux red; I recommend it with lubricious enthusiasm. As far as properly fine wines go these days, it is not asset-drainingly expensive, and you can get it in lots of three rather than six.
Mullineux Roundstone 2023 is obviously highly stimulating to drink now but, I would strongly urge you, if you buy one of their handy three-packs keep the first of your bottles until it is approaching a decade old, and drink from then on. You will be amply gratified!
Get it here!
