Great Heart : A Wine that Empowers
Franschhoek, South Africa, 22 March 2021: Together with their employees, Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines, known for their multi-award winning Leeu Passant and Mullineux wineries, has started a new staff empowerment project called Great Heart Wines – aimed at improving the livelihoods of those who work for the company as well as their families.
Conceived during the first South African lockdown last year, the wine brand is collectively owned by the winery staff, and profits from all sales under this label will go directly to them. The staff will receive their first dividends at the end of the financial year, which is in May 2021.
The Great Heart Wines are available in the UK as of today (22 March), exclusively at Waitrose, retailing at £14.99 per 750ml bottle. The first two cuvees are the Great Heart Swartland Chenin Blanc and Great Heart Swartland Red blend.
For some time, founders Chris and Andrea Mullineux had been thinking how they could reward and uplift their dedicated and hardworking team. Lockdown galvanised this intent, and the idea of starting a wine brand that was collectively owned by their employees was born.
As Andrea Mullineux explains, “To thank our employees who have shown commitment, we have made those who have worked for our winery for 2 years or more shareholders of Great Heart Wines. They will directly benefit from the sales of Great Heart.”
“The pursuit of the greater good, especially in business, is not a given, but it’s one that rings louder and truer for us with each passing moment,” Chris Mullineux continues. “Great Heart is our way of addressing an array of important issues in our industry today. A heartfelt thank you to Waitrose for their belief and support for this very special project.”
The Great Heart wines are grown and produced in the Mullineux & Leeu vineyards and cellars, with the same attention to detail the team follows in everything they do, resulting in wines with a natural intensity, complexity and a true sense of place reflecting the characteristics of the region, as well as those who live and work here.
“This is a huge opportunity to better lives and livelihoods, especially in this time of crisis,” says Gynore Fredericks, Assistant Winemaker at Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines, and Winemaker for Great Heart wines. “I am proud to be part of a project I can call my own.”
Businesses today have the power to transform the world. Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines is optimistic that Great Heart will go some way to changing the way consumers think, shift supply chains towards a better balance, and share a story and vision that will remind the world that by working together businesses can be a mechanism for equality, inclusivity and meaningful transformation.