Boutique Riebeek winery, Mullineux Family Wines, is bringing an American idea to SA. Many wineries in America sell the majority of their wines exclusively to wine club members – in some cases it is their entire production and there is even a currency of people selling their ‘place’ in the club! Whilst not quite at this level, Andrea and Chris Mullineux decided to try and emulate this practice here in SA.
Benefits
– It creates a core group of loyal customers who respond to special offers and promotions and who feel they have personal contact with the Mullineuxs through the club.
– It gives Andrea and Chris the room to experiment, as many of the wines offered to the club are single barrel wines, made in unusual and often time-consuming ways.
– Members get the normal wine range at a substantial discount plus unusual wines made in limited quantities, all of them guaranteed to confuse any wine tasting group!
– FREE delivery to main centres throughout SA, and includes recipes, tasting notes and a free gift with every bi-annual delivery.
– No joining fee
What I thought
At a tasting of some of these more unusual wines, I was especially impressed with two reds which will be on offer to club members soon. The 2010 Cinsault was a beautifully-textured wine with juicy tannins and lively red and black berries.
Whilst the Mourvedre 2011 showed violets and perfume, some interesting and surprising litchi notes and a soft, velvety finish. Only 300 bottles of these wines were made (a single barrel of each) and it was as if we were drinking small, interesting snapshots of the Mullineuxs lives in a glass.
Why you should join
If you’re interested in wines, particularly hand-crafted, unusual ones, then I think this is a great club to join. You only have to take 2 cases of wine per year and, combined with all the other accompanying bits and pieces, this can work out at extremely good value for such great wines.
For more information, visit the Mullineux website.
Oh – and Andrea says that anyone who does what a wine club customer from an American winery did, and gets a tattoo of the Mullineux logo on their arm, they can have a further 20% off the wine as well – what a bargain!
Follow Chris and Andrea on Twitter @MullineuxWines or ‘like’ their Facebook page.