Leeu Passant’s Quiet Ascent | Award-Winning South African Fine Wine
Leeu Passant: The Quiet Ascent of a Modern South African Classic
In an industry often driven by noise, novelty, and the relentless churn of headlines, true excellence tends to move with quieter purpose. It is earned, not announced; built, not borrowed. The latest achievements from Leeu Passant, namely four wines awarded the coveted Five Stars in the Platter’s Wine Guide for 2026, serve as a reminder of what sustained vision, meticulous craftsmanship, and uncompromising intent can yield. For a winery still young by Cape standards, the results are nothing short of commanding.
The Platter’s Guide, after all, is not a platform given to easy praise. Its Five-Star accolades remain among the most respected benchmarks in South African wine, bestowed only on wines that achieve the highest level of distinction in rigorous blind assessment. For Leeu Passant to see four wines reach this summit in a single vintage cycle is extraordinary. It is also entirely in character.
The wines recognised speak to the breadth and precision of the Leeu Passant portfolio:
- 2023 Leeu Passant Stellenbosch Chardonnay
- 2021 Leeu Passant Radicales Libres
- 2023 Leeu Passant Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2022 Leeu Passant The Leeu Passant
Together, they capture the full expression of the Leeu Passant philosophy: measured power, layered complexity, and a purity that reveals not only place, but the hand and heart behind the wine. A heart originating from distinctive pockets of Cape wineland terroir.
These latest accolades arrive in the slipstream of global recognition. Just weeks ago, Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines - encompassing both Mullineux and Leeu Passant - were named World's Best Rising Star at the prestigious Golden Vine Awards, an international honour saluting producers whose trajectory points unequivocally upward. For those who have followed the evolution of Leeu Passant, the award is not a surprise. Rather, it is a confirmation of what has been brewing quietly but insistently in Franschhoek: a modern South African producer positioning itself among the world’s elite.
“Our aim has always been to craft wines of depth, distinction, and enduring character,” says Chris Mullineux, co-owner of Mullineux & Leeu Family wines. “To have four wines recognised at this level in Platter’s reinforces that we’re on the right path, and that the individual vineyards and growers we’ve committed to are expressing themselves with increasing clarity.”
That clarity has long been part of the Leeu Passant ambition. When Chris and his wife Andrea, already celebrated for their Mullineux wines in the Swartland, established Leeu Passant in partnership with entrepreneur and philanthropist Analjit Singh, the intention was never to replicate Mullineux’s success in another region. Instead, Leeu Passant set out to reinterpret the foundations of historic Cape wine through the lens of contemporary precision. The winery’s focus on old-vine heritage fruit, classically inspired winemaking, and a meticulous approach to site selection forms a bridge between the Cape’s past and its global future.
For Singh, the accolades affirm a belief that has guided the project from the outset. “Leeu Passant is built on passion, patience, and the pursuit of excellence,” he says. “These awards show what is possible when vision and craft are aligned, and when the team is empowered to reach for the exceptional. I am very proud of what we have achieved, and even more excited for what lies ahead.”
The wines themselves tell the story.
The Stellenbosch Chardonnay 2023 is a masterclass in modern Cape Chardonnay being lithe yet confident, its tension and citrus-edged profile unfolding into layers of subtle oak and mineral intricacy. The wine’s precision feels both international in refinement and distinctly Stellenbosch in its firm, stony architecture.
Radicales Libres 2021, a wine that has already earned a cult following, is once again recognised for its audacity and restraint in equal measure. Long élevage and Andrea Mullineux’s trademark command of texture work in tandem to create something that feels familiar yet defiantly original, a South African white of rare dimension.
The Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 signals the strength of the region’s classical credentials in the hands of a producer unafraid to chase purity over power. Structured, poised, and effortlessly detailed, it shows why Cabernet remains the Cape’s most compelling vehicle for world-class expression.
Finally, The Leeu Passant 2022, the estate’s flagship red, encapsulates the philosophy of the entire project: multi-regional fruit drawn from heritage vineyards, assembled with the same intent that once defined the early Cape’s great table wines. It is a wine of gravitas and length, a South African fine wine built to age and built to matter.
What makes these achievements especially significant is not only the medals or the number of stars, but the consistency they reveal. Excellence, after all, is seldom accidental. It is the cumulative result of vision, vineyard, instinct, and rigour applied year after year, season after season. In this sense, Leeu Passant’s success is emblematic of a broader, encouraging truth: South African wine is not simply competing globally; it is defining itself on its own terms.
For those of us who observe the industry with a wine writer’s combination of curiosity and scepticism, there is something deeply gratifying in seeing a producer rise without theatrics, driven instead by the steady burn of ambition, the discipline of craft, and the humility to let the wines speak for themselves.
Leeu Passant is not just speaking. It is being heard. And increasingly, the world is listening.
