Mullineux Olerasay Straw Wine 37,5 cl #4

Tasting Note:
This beautifully sweet and incredibly rare cuvée immediately draws one in with notes of sundried apricots and Fynbos perfume on the nose. It has an unmeasurable concentration and incredible zesty acidity, making for a beautiful, balanced and refreshing drink during any occasion. The complex layers of citrus, candied ginger and marzipan will pair exceptionally well with hard cheese and charcuterie. – Andrea Mullineux

Technical Details at Bottling:
Alcohol 8.0 % – RS 365 g/l – TA 11.4 g/l – pH 3.33

Winemaking:
By picking the grapes at normal ripeness and then drying them in the breezy outside
conditions for the desiccation process, we are not just concentrating sugar and flavour, but
also increasing the intense, zesty acidity that we feel is so important in making a balanced
Straw Wine. After drying for several weeks, the grapes were crushed and pressed to 225L
barrels where a long, slow natural fermentation took place. Each year the fermentation stops
at a natural balance after 8 to 12 months.
A vintage Straw Wine is always bottled however a few barrels were selected to go into a
complex Solera system of barrel-aging that was started with our first Mullineux vintage in
2008. We decided to bottle the first iteration of OLERASAY 1º which was a fractional
blend of 2008 to 2014 when it was different enough from the vintage Straw Wine,
followed by the 2º in 2020 and the 3º in 2022.
The respective fractionally-blended OLERASAY 4º comprises of the 2008 through 2023
vintages, which is incredibly complex, bringing unstoppable length and freshness.

Greg Sherwood MW 99/100
A deep alluring golden honeycomb yellow colour, this deliciously sweet, opulent blend boasts a vital and complex aromatics of dried apricots, peach skins, fynbos spice and orange marmalade nuances before subtle notes of wet hay, honeycomb, bees wax, grilled cashew nuts and caramelised yellow grapefruit emerge. For all the unfurling complexity on the nose, it’s the incredible intensity and balance on the palate that really sets this wine apart, with a concentrated zingy depth of dried apricots and passionfruit harmonising perfectly with a searing, tangy acidity that lightens the sugar sweetness and leaves your palate salivating for another sip. The finish is long, delicately saline and truly multi-dimensional, with lingering notes of candied oranges, crystallised figs and stem ginger. This is not only one of the greatest sweet wine expressions in South Africa, but undoubtedly, one of the most beguiling, complex and intellectually engaging sweet wines in the world of fine wine. A wine not to be missed. Drink on release and over the next 20 to 30+ years.

WineMag 98/100 
Now established as one of SA’s great sweet wines, the latest version doesn’t disappoint. Dried peach and apricot, orange, potpourri, fynbos and mint plus hints of bee’s wax, caramel and nuts. The palate is super-dense with soaring acidity before a finish with a distinctly umami-like quality and pithy texture. Decadently rich but equally utterly engaging on an intellectual level. Alc: 8%.

Vinous 98/100
‘utterly enchanting’

Platter’s 95/100 / *****
Fourth release of seamless & stunning dessert wine from Paardeberg chenin vines, average age 45 years. Grapes dried several weeks, crushed, pressed & fermented in barrique, portion Hungarian, aged in a fractional blending process. NV from vintages 2008-2023 is 375 ml of liquid gold. Opulent & viscous, with enormous complexity & unfolding depths of flavour. Impeccable balance & poise, all at just 8% alc.