Producer Mulline Vintners is a collaboration between Ben Mullen, a qualified viticulturist and winemaker, and Ben Hine, a lawyer and the business mind behind the project. Together, the two Bens set out to produce high-quality wines made with fruit grown throughout the surrounding Geelong region, Moorabool Valley, Surf Coast, and Bellarine Peninsula. They purchase fruit from like-minded growers and have their own home vineyard and winery in Portarlington.A breath of fresh air for the Geelong region, Mulline is a young, passionate, forward-thinking collaboration injecting new life and energy into the Geelong wine scene and collecting a lot of critical praise along the way. Tasting Note There are aromas of dark cherry, lavender, dried thyme and crushed granite. The palate is structured and savoury, with a firm line of tannin and bright acidity carrying the wine through. Flavours of black raspberry, rhubarb, and smoky spice emerge with air, framed by a gentle grip and a long, mineral finish. The fruit for this wine comes from the Strathmore Vineyard on Muhlebach Road in Sutherlands Creek, part of the Moorabool Valley sub-region. Planted in 1998 to MV6 Pinot Noir, the site is defined by its grey and brown loams over clay loams, scattered with fragmented granite — soils that lend depth and detail. The wine includes 30% whole bunch and was aged for eight months in French oak, 25% of which was new. It sits at 12.5% alcohol. 96 points! Philip Rich, Halliday Wine CompanionA single-vineyard wine planted with MV6 and Abel clones in the late '90s; 20% whole bunches. A bright crimson. Elegant and restrained with aromas of red cherry, rose petals and spices such as Sichuan pepper and star anise together with a little new-oak pencil-shaving scents. The palate is similarly elegant and fine boned and I like the way this keeps building as it sits in the glass. The tannins are superfine and persistent. The most reticent, perhaps, of the five single-vineyard wines but a wine that will no doubt age superbly.
