The 2017 vintage releases sees Chris Alheit expand his single site range of white wines and stake his marker firmly in the sand, pointing to the future direction that the Alheit Family Winery will be pursuing in future.

His overall vision has evolved since starting out with his first Cartology release in 2011, a wine Chris feels helped give birth to the newest range of single site wines from the winery. These new wines further help define the history, origin and outright pedigree of old vine Chenin Blanc in South Africa. Or as Chris says… “the journey of diversity continues.”

Cartology Tasting Flight 1:

Cartology 2011, 14 Abv.

A wonderfully expressive, detailed wine that really pays testament to Chris’ vision for creating a blended old vine white from multiple sites. The famous 96 pointer from Neal Martin, this wine is the antithesis of global score inflation. Wonderful pedigree, the aromatics are packed with sweet honeysuckle, pear purée, white peaches and yellow orchard fruits with a expressive vein of granitic minerality, dried herbs, dusty gravel and lemon peel zest. The palate shows textured weight, flesh and depth with layers of honied yellow peaches, orange peel, tangerine, honeydew melon and buttered brown toast with honey. All this fruit and concentration is tightly hemmed in by bracing acids that are in fine balance and integrated, helping the wine build to a tumultuous, intense and incredibly long profound finish. Surely not much of this icon left in consumers cellars setting it up to be a true unicorn wine one day. Drink now or cellar confidently for another 10-15+ years. (3.8 g/l RS)

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cartology 2012, 14 Abv.

A wine that was slightly misunderstood on release, being dryer, tighter and decidedly more minerally focused than the 2011. With valuable time in bottle, this wine still shows a certain strictness but is already developing super complex notes of dusty gravel, pine needles, resinous sappy spice, yellow peach, waxy yellow apples and intriguing fynbos herbal, earthy nuances. The palate is crisp and bright with a clear honied, yellow fruited depth, a slight spicy oxidative complexity and a pithy, salty, briney finish. A wine that still retains a certain amount of intrigue. Drink now and over the next 5 to 8 years.

(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cartology 2013, 14 Abv.

Cooler and tighter nose, the aromatics show complex notes of soap stone, talc, dried herbs, rosemary, tarragon, hints of yellow orchard fruits and a dusty, sappy fresh fig top note. The palate is rich and expressive, brimming with lemon butter, lemon biscuits, fresh pastries, white peach, tangerine and toffee apple exoticism. Super pure and crystalline, this wine shows admirable youthfulness, clarity and focus and a real sense of core tension. A very fine expression of Cartology, this is a youthful example with superb freshness, harmonious balance and lovely lingering length. Keep this in your cellar.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cartology 2014, 13.7 Abv.

This is a big bruiser, with immediate, opulent aromatics that show exoticism, power and definite botrytis influences. The nose is full of bruised yellow orchard fruits, ripe quince, honied peaches, buttered white toast drizzle with honey and hints of dried peaches, guava roll and dried mango. As expected, the palate is full and fleshy, dense and full, round, with a delicious sweet and sour yellow plum acidity, bright fresh acids and a tangy, honied, textural earthy dried mango peel finish. Slightly atypical but oh so delicious and hedonistic. Drink now and over the next 10 years.

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cartology Tasting Flight 2:

Cartology 2015

A serious vintage, this wine shows complex aromatics and palate depth in a way that really ticks all the boxes. The nose is pure and bright, focused but expressive, with multiple layers of yellow peach, yellow apples, dusty sappy spice and a lovely granitic, crushed gravel minerality underpinned by subtle notes of fynbos and green herbs. The palate shows impressive power and shape, flesh and coiled textural tension with incredible polish and harmony twinned with intensity. The fruit purity is very noticeable, embroidered by bright, mouth watering acidity, mouth coating intensity and impressive white peach and green apple length. Youthful for sure, this wine has plenty of legs. Drink now for a hedonistic experience or cellar for 15+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cartology 2016

The 2016 shows a real immediate generosity both on the nose and palate. The aromatics are intricate and nuanced showing crunchy white peach, hairy yellow peaches, green apple, wet river pebble minerality and subtle fynbos lift. The palate is super fresh, bright and energetic with real purity, polish and textural finesse. A clear favourite of Chris’s, this wine definitely shows more core tension, leaner, slightly sour green acids and a very intense, focused, tight finish. This wine is impossible not to like, but perhaps takes a little time to get to know. Leave it in your cellar, it will reward 10 to 15 years of bottle ageing.

(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cartology 2017

Big, broad expansive yellow orchard fruit aromatics, subtle yellow blossom and then an overriding dusty gravel quarry minerality. The palate shows amazing depth, typical Alheit pineapple fruit pastille concentration, lemon grass and an incredible saline, grassy, herbal pithy length. Another epic effort from Butch.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Tasting Flight 3:

Radio Lazarus 2017, 13 Abv.

The effort that goes into making this cuvée shows immediately on this wine with the most expressive aromatics that seduce you and draw you in. There are lovely notes of white peach, crunchy yellow fruits, yellow plum, white citrus, pear and green apple brightness. The palate is dusty and sappy with hints of stalk spice, crushed fynbos, green herbs, apple skins and crushed gravel minerality. The acids are bright and intense, not sharp at all, but coat the palate and make your mouth water with its sheer purity and clarity. This is a wine of a gnarled, struggling old vine vineyard that is more about dusty minerality, austerity and terroir than any kind of fruit opulence. A heartbreak venture, this is a true heritage wine of the Cape. Drink this fairly open expression on release or age for 20+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Nautical Dawn Chenin Blanc 2017, 13 Abv.

Another classic Chenin Blanc parcel from the False Bay that again shows wonderful defined site specific characters. Very different to Swartland expressions, this Rustenhof vineyard wine from bush vines planted in 1978 yields expressive aromatics of white citrus, white peach pastille, tart sour plum, crushed gravel, limestone and a dusty lemon rind note. On the palate, this wine shows incredible tension, acid frame, brightness and purity, so beautifully balanced but still slightly raw and saline at the moment. A wine of intensity and vibrancy, this wine packs a punch of note. This looks a good bet for ageing.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Tasting Flight 4:

Fire By Night 2017, 13 Abv.

Bright, crystalline and intense, wonderfully taut and intense, loaded with liquid minerals, limestone and greengage, green apple and white pears. Pithy phenolic notes, a spicy pear purée expression and such clarity and focus. Mouth watering acidity, this wine tells an amazing story and delivers on so many levels with great subtlety.

(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Huilkrans 2017, 14 Abv.

Wonderful melange of pure mineral, granite, grated apple, white peach and crunchy green pear with hints of orange blossom, tangerine and dried herb spice. Incredible harmony and balance, precise textural focus, sleek concentration and liquid mineral depth. A thought provoking wine, confounding the senses, stimulating the palate. Grand Cru texture, focus and precision.

(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Magnetic North Mountain Makstok 2017, 14 Abv.

A stern, lean, focused, striking wine with tension, tightly meshed acids and phenolics and a wonderfully lean and mesmerising nose of liquid minerality. Like the Lazarus, this is dusty and restrained, gravelly and austere but delivers an impressive focus and intensity on the palate. Crystalline, saline, bright and tart, backed with incredible white peach and white citrus, pithy granitic limestone minerality, this wine has greatness in its DNA, a wine that is initially less generous, more austere, packed with briney tart acidity but with the most incredible intensity, energy, and electric length. Another ageworthy gem for the cellar. Drink from 2020 to 2040+

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

“Not really thirst quenching, more thirst provoking.” ~ Julia Harding MW

Tasting Flight 5:

La Colline Semillon 2017, 13..5 Abv.

Planted in 1936, this is a selection massale block from original genetic material brought to the Cape in the 1600s. Plenty of pedigree here showing white citrus, yellow grapefruit, lime cordial, fresh asparagus and pithy tangerine peel complexity. The palate is loaded with yellow grapefruit, white peach, waxy green apple and tart, lanolin tinged gravelley complexity often seen on Bruce Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Semillon from Hunter Valley. There is great intensity, breadth and power that tantalises the palate with apricot and earthy spice on a long, profound finish. Bench mark in every way.

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Hemelrand Vine Garden 2017, 13.5. Abv.

One of Chris Alheit’s young vine wines from the farm they live on in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. A blend of Roussanne, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Verdelho and Muscat, this 2017, the third edition shows an enticing nose of lime peel, fragrant cantaloup melon, lychee, fresh rose petals and ripe pineapple pastille. Steely, bright, intense with searing freshness, this wine has an electric core, plugged straight into the mains. A wine that becomes more accomplished with every subsequent release.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

(Wines available to the trade in the UK from importer Dreyfus Ashby)