South African winemaker and Swartland revolutionary, Andrea Mullineux, was named Winemaker Of The Year by prestigious international magazine, Wine Enthusiast.
The winners will be honored at the annual Wine Star Awards Dinner held for the first time in Miami, Florida at Nobu Eden Rock on Monday, January 30th 2017.
“For her outstanding wines, collaborative efforts to revolutionize a region and constant drive to be a better winemaker, Wine Enthusiast recognizes Andrea Mullineux as its 2016 Winemaker of the Year.” – Adam Strum, Wine Enthusiast.
Californian, Andrea Mullineux, first travelled to South Africa from San Francisco in 2004 for a six month internship at Stellenbosch winery, Waterford, followed by a stint at acclaimed winery Chateauneuf du Pape in the southeastern region of France. Here she met her future husband Chris Mullineux.
Andrea developed her passion for wine at the family dinner table, growing up in San Francisco. After studying Viticulture and Oenology at UC Davis, and completing a handful of harvests in the Napa Valley, Andrea worked in Stellenbosch, and then in Chateauneuf where on the same trip, she met Chris at a wine festival in Champagne!
Andrea’s love for South African wine (and Chris) brought her back to South Africa where they learnt that their compatibility extended into the vineyards and cellar. When Andrea is not hard at work in the cellar, her creative energies flow into the kitchen where she loves cooking up a storm, glass of wine in hand.
After working several vintages at wineries in France, California and South Africa, Chris and Andrea chose to settle in the Swartland region of South Africa, firmly believing the granite and schist based terroirs and old vineyards of the Swartland have the potential to produce truly great wine.
Mullineux Family Wines was established in 2007, and was owned and managed by Chris and Andrea Mullineux, with business partners, Keith Prothero and Peter Dart. Within a very short time period the winery established itself as one of South Africa’s most celebrated wine brands, both locally and on the international front.
By 2016 they had received seventeen 5 star ratings from Platter’s South African Wine Guide, as well as being awarded Red Wine of the Year in 2013 and 2016, and Winery of the Year in 2014 and 2016 and now they can boast that Andrea was officially named as World Winemaker Of The Year.
“Andrea is one of the most focused and precise winemakers that I know,” says Badenhorst. “She has a clear understanding of the type of wine she wants to make, and the quality of fruit that is required to do this.”
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