Walter's World, Edition No. 10 (May 2025)

As the weather warms, Chris set out to find wines that shine alongside grilling, spring vegetables, and easy porch sipping. This month’s release includes everything from a focused, powerful Chenin Blanc to a beautifully soft rosé with notes of strawberry and rhubarb, pulling from both familiar regions and a few new discoveries.

We hope you love these as much as we do!

Cheers,
the Walter's team

I | Mullineux ‘Old Vines’ White
2022 | Swartland, South Africa | Chenin Blanc et al.

We’ve featured one South African wine in the club before — Crystallum’s Pinot Noir — which is a fantastic example of the variety but somewhat of an outlier in the South African wine scene. I wanted to show you what a high-level, classic iteration is like, and Chenin Blanc fits that mold perfectly.
While Chenin is autochthonous to the Loire Valley of France, it made its vacation home in South Africa long ago and has since become an integral part of the region’s identity. Locally, it’s often referred to as Steen and is generally a broader, more powerful, and opulent expression compared to its home-team siblings.
Mullineux was founded in 2007 by husband-and-wife duo Chris and Andrea. They’re based in Swartland, known as the breadbasket of South Africa, which boasts a rich concentration of mature vine material planted in the mid-20th century. This wine comes from their oldest holdings, with vines over 70 years old. It’s mostly Chenin, with a bit of Semillon, Clairette, and Grenache Blanc blended in and aged in large-format neutral barrels to create a crunchy, reductive style right out of the bottle that expands beautifully with a bit of air. We definitely recommend decanting this one (though, honestly, we recommend decanting most wines, haha).
Since it’s grilling season again, I’d source a bone-in pork loin with a significant fat cap from our friends at Beast & Cleaver or LadyJaye, dry-brine it overnight, then get that salty fat crispy on the grill and the loin to a perfect medium. Grilled spring onions and a simple green salad on the side would make for a very good night.

II | Bodega Noemía ‘A Lisa’
2022 | Patagonia, Argentina | Malbec

Do you like dogs? We hope so — they bring so much joy and remind us to embrace every day, as their time here is way, way too short. We’re dog people around here too (no surprise, I’m sure), and this wine hails from a land of dogs in Argentina’s region of Patagonia.
Dogs roam free there — hundreds of them — just chilling in the middle lawns of huge traffic circles, sauntering down the street minding their own business, sometimes stopping to say hello, sometimes focused on their destination. While they don’t have homes, they’re still cared for by the communities of the region, and somehow, it all just works. That’s the first thing I (Chris) think about when I drink wines from Patagonia; I just can’t help it.
Malbec is synonymous with Argentina — more often with Mendoza than anywhere else — but it’s also migrated to the outer extremities of the country, both north in Salta and south here in Patagonia. This is where the Andes mountain range trails off and the landscape flattens, an unusual sight if you’ve traveled through the country where the mountains feel ever-present.
Noemía was founded by Dutchman Hans Vinding-Diers in 2001 after discovering an old vineyard that needed some TLC. Tucked between a border of cypress trees to block the intense winds that sweep through the region, the wines are some of the purest expressions of Malbec around — differing from their Mendoza counterparts by being more perfumed and red-fruited, less powerful, but equally delicious.
What to eat with this, you ask? Well, when in Argentina, the answer is always beef — but in this case, a leaner, more gamey, “beefy” cut like bavette or tri-tip.

III | Clos Cibonne ‘Cuvée Tradition’
2021 | Côtes du Provence, France | Tibouren

This saucy little number is going to surprise you. It’s rosé from the 2021 vintage — yes, 2021. Most people associate rosé with the latest vintage, with the 2024s all over the marketplace right now, but I’ll let you in on a little secret: last year’s, or even the year before that, is almost always going to be a better wine.
The latest release of rosé is often rushed to market for cash flow reasons and generally still smells and tastes of fermentation, leaving the drinker wanting more cohesiveness and complexity. Older vintages are even more essential for serious wines like Clos Cibonne — a Tibouren-based blend garnished with a touch of Grenache from Provence. The family that owns this winery has championed this obscure variety for five generations now, and it’s a unique drinking experience both for that fact and because it’s aged in barrel under fleurette.
Fleurette is a local yeast that grows on top of the wine in barrel and adds heightened richness and mouthfeel without making the wine cloying. When I drink this, I think of eating strawberry shortcake with a tarragon syrup and toasted almonds — but it all comes off dry on my palate. There’s a pillowy texture that’s just so intoxicating, like drinking clouds made of strawberry rhubarb compote. Just the best.
Drink this with anything… or nothing, honestly.

IV | Arnot-Roberts Gamay Noir
2023 | El Dorado County, California | Gamay

Two friends who grew up together in Napa in the ’80s were surrounded by the wine business through family members who were coopers, lawyers, teachers, and chefs. Their exposure led to them making a single barrel of wine in one of their basements for fun — and the rest is history.
They now make wines from all over California, with a focus on special sites that speak to them in one way or another, from Napa to Santa Cruz to the Sierra Foothills. This Gamay is sourced from a couple of vineyards in the El Dorado Hills at high elevation, growing in decomposed granite. They vinify whole cluster, as the greats of Beaujolais do, which helps build perfume in the wines, manage the tannins, and bring additional savory flavors from the stems.
I (Chris) like this wine for the warming weather because it’s quite refreshing and can even benefit from a slight chill. Beef tartare or a tomato salad would be at the top of my list to have with this!