Cartology

The Highly Sought After New Alheit Vineyards 2021 Wine Releases Tasted and Reviewed…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

In September, Chris “Butch” Alheit returned to the United Kingdom to present his new 2021 vintages at his importer’s portfolio tasting. With over 120+ wines from South Africa being poured, most with their producers in attendance, I decided to write up a series of “snap-shot” tastings for drinkers and collectors to use as a quick and easily accessible reference for a whole series of new releases. I fortuitously had another opportunity only a few weeks later to retaste the entire Alheit range again with Chris in Cape Town at the Cape Wine 2022 wine show in October. So my below scores are an aggregate of the two tastings.

Chris explained that in general, his vineyards ripened around 10 days later in 2021 than the previous year, with low yields but very high quality across the board. In 2021, no Huilkrans Chenin Blanc was made as the crop from this Skurfberg “lieu dit” vineyard was simply too small. Then there was the Magnetic North catastrophy which saw the entire tank of Chenin Blanc from this famous vineyard ruined by a faulty tank gasket seal that imparted an unpleasant bitterness to the wine. As if Alheit demand and supply is not strained enough in a regular vintage, 2021 with its exceptional white wine quality will create even more severe headaches for collectors and drinkers looking for allocations of these incredible wines. But I recommend you persevere as the wines are once again truly outstanding.

Alheit Vineyards Hereafter Here 2021, WO Western Cape, 13% Abv.

Made from young vine Chenin Blanc vineyards from Upper Blaauwklippen, Polkadraai and the Swartland, the idea is that some of these grapes will eventually be channelled into Cartology in years to come as the vines age. Deliciously cool, silky and taut with green fruits, white flowers, white citrus, green apple and crunchy peach nuances. Acids are mouth-wateringly tangy and the fruits crystalline and pure with impressive clarity and balance. A clear step up in quality and intensity on the maiden 2020 release.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW) RRP £28

Alheit Vineyards Cartology 2021, WO Western Cape, 13% Abv.

A blend of 90% Chenin Blanc and 10% Semillon from circa nine dryland bush vine parcels around the Cape with a minimum age of 35 years but with most between 40 to 80 years old. The entry shows a massive vibrant concentration of white citrus, peach and tangerine with complexing notes of wet thatch, fynbos and struck flint reduction. The palate is rich and textured, plush and fleshy, showing the true class and pedigree of the 2021 vintage. This must be among the finest Cartology releases produced to date. Do not miss it!

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW) RRP £37

At Cape Wine 2022

Alheit Vineyards Fire By Night Chenin Blanc 2021, WO Swartland, 13% Abv.

Previously known as Broom Ridge, this wine has reverted back to its original name and label due to popular demand. From vineyards on the property Chris bought in the Swartland, the vines were planted between 1971 and 1985 on decomposed granitic soils. The aromatics are predictably stony, dusty and pithy with white peach, crunchy pear, green tea, fynbos and tangerine undertones. The palate shows its usual tell-tale reductive flinty hints together with an incredible liquid minerality that is supported by crystalline pure fruits and pinpoint fresh acids. Once again, a very impressive showing from this Paardeberg vineyard.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW) RRP £50

Alheit Vineyards Nautical Dawn Chenin Blanc 2021, WO Helderberg, Stellenbosch, 13% Abv.

Grapes for this single vineyard wine come from a beautiful higher altitude site in the Helderberg planted in 1978 that overlooks False Bay. The soils are weathered decomposed granite that look like caster sugar in texture. True to this vineyard’s terroir, there is an incredibly pronounced rock salt salinity on the wine with an overt maritime sea breeze complexity that combines with notes of peach, pear, lime peel, tangerine and a savoury liquid minerality on the finish. Intense, complex and certainly quite profound. Wow!

(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW) RRP £42

Alheit Vineyards Monument Semillon 2021, WO Franschhoek, 13% Abv. (Ex-La Colline)

The grapes from this famous La Colline vineyard were planted in 1936 and offer up complex notes of melted bee’s wax, incense, sweet baking herbs, black currant, lemon rind and tangerine. There is a generous, concentrated fleshy savoury fruit core all held in perfect equilibrium by fresh taut acids. Still showing a complexing hint of smoky reduction, this is undoubtedly a profound Semillon offering from one of the most famous vineyards in the country. Pop this in your cellar for 3 to 5 years and then drink over 8 to 10+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW) RRP £68

Alheit Vineyards Hemelrand Vine Garden 2021, WO Hemel-en-Aarde, 13.5% Abv.

A blend of 36% Chardonnay, 27% Roussanne, 18% Chenin Blanc, 16% Verdelho and 3% Muscat. This field blend offers up rich earthy, peachy fruit notes with yellow orchard fruits, white flowers, citrus oil and lychee with subtle baking spice nuances. The palate is fresh and full fruited with a fruit salad melange enlivened by juicy, tangy acids and a delicately savoury, mineral finish. Plenty of intensity on display here but also a fine purity and a harmonious balance. One of the best Hemelrand Vine Garden releases to date.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW) RRP £32

Alheit Vineyards Lost and Found Hanepoot Straw Wine 2019, WO Breedekloof, 7% Abv.

Looking at this rich, unctuous wine in the glass is akin to gazing through an ancient piece of Jurassic fossilized amber – ripe, captivating and most definitely warmly inviting. But this is no normal sweet wine and one sniff of the rich, ripe, potent aromatics reveals an enchanting bouquet of freshly boiled marmalade jam, green mango preserve, barley sugar, sweet herbs, wet straw and dried apricots. Give the dense, glycerol wine another slow swirl in a big Zalto Bordeaux bowl and it shifts gears again to offer yet more pithy orange peel nuances and seductive notes of quince jelly, pressed grapes and burnt caramel. Like some of South Africa’s other truly great sweet wines, the aromatics are so complex and seductive that you almost forget to sip the wine! Incredibly viscous and fleshy on the palate with a round glycerol opulence, there is no suggestion at any point that this wine is going to be overly sweet and clawing with its 450 g/l RS. In fact the sweetness is kept smartly in check by a searing acidity that scythes through the caramel and barley sugar laden fruit layers with samurai sword precision. The finish is gloriously mouth coating, hedonistic and persistent with just the most subtle sappy, pithy, bitter orange peel vermouth twang.

(Wine Safari Score: 98+/100 Greg Sherwood MW) RRP £75 per 37.5cl

Trade allocations available in the UK through their exclusive importer Dreyfus Ashby or retail from South African fine wine specialist Museum Wines.

Cartology 2019 – Chris Alheit Releases Another Prodigious Edition of His Old Vine Chenin Blanc Global Brand…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 1 Comment

After the difficulties of the 2018 harvest, the fourth drought influenced vintage in a row, that produced small quantities of very high-quality wines, 2019 arrived after a winter with better rains and beckoned a vintage with heathier yields and higher volumes. While Chris waivered briefly a few years ago on the long-term future of the Cartology brand, a subsequent broader rejigging of some of the exceptional old vineyards that used to go into this wine ultimately led to a complete shake up of the range, and most importantly, the acquisition of the Nuwedam farm in the Swartland, the Paardeberg source of the Fire By Night brand, now renamed Broom Ridge.

But the Cartology Chenin Blanc based blend luckily remains central to the Alheit Family Wines long term plans. While it’s unclear how large volumes might grow one day, this wine remains one of the greatest success stories to emerge from the “New South Africa” and its winelands.

Alheit Family Wines Cartology 2019, WO Western Cape, 13% abv.

The 2019 expression of Chris Alheit’s sought-after megabrand is a blend of 90% Chenin Blanc and 10% Semillon (from La Colline) and stands as the benchmark reference point for his whole winemaking range and philosophy. Always normally requiring a bit of extra time in bottle to show at its expressive best, this delicious 2019 already reveals a wonderful balance and precision, focus and textural attention to detail. The aromatics are loaded with the now unmistakable Chenin Blanc notes of yellow orchard fruits, white peach, tangerines, wet thatch and orange peel zest with complexing waxy, honeycomb nuances. Cool, seamless and wonderfully balanced, the palate shows a lovely vein of tangy acidity that really brings the fruit flavours to life. Plush, concentrated and impressively glycerol already, this Cartology is showy and seductive but contains all the requisite stuffing required for 15+ years of ageing.

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

Alheit Family Wines Cartology 2018 Staking a Solid Quality Marker For The Vintage…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 1 Comment

When I was was out on the town in London with Chris Alheit in 2017, he voiced his uncertainty over the long term future of the Cartology brand versus the more niche single vineyard cuvee expressions in his portfolio.

I told him in no uncertain terms that to kill off this super strong Cartology brand would be madness due to its established cult following in Europe and beyond. Of course the dilemma lay with some of the unique old vine vineyard parcels that were going into the blend that realistically merited their own cuvees.

Thankfully, the Cartology project continues and the quality remains super high and expressive. 2018 is another deliciously individual, expressive white wine that speaks of the unique personality of the last drought vintage in South Africa in 2018.

Alheit Family Wines Cartology 2018, WO Western Cape, 13 Abv.

The traditional Cartology blend with a dominant 90% Chenin Blanc and 10% Semillon in support. As previous, this is a multi-vineyard, multi-regional blend to produce one of South Africa’s strongest white wine brands. The nose resonates with notes of fresh stable straw, honey on white toast, freshly squeezed peach juice, dusty granitic minerality and a subtle leesy, smoky touch of reduction. The palate shows an impressively spikey fresh acidity twinned with a crystalline yellow orchard fruit concentration so typical of so many 2018 South African whites. There is something so familiar about this Cartology yet also some intriguingly unique vintage characters of hawthorn, quince and unripe tangerines. This wine shows more focus, linearity and salinity than bigger previous vintages and strikes another powerful note for the premium white wines from the 2018 vintage.

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

Alheit Family Wines 2017 New Vintage Release Tasting in London…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

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)

The Young Gun Still Blazing – Tasting the Alheit Family Cartology 2017…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

As most producers are getting ready to press their 2018 grapes post fermentation, I’ve been tasting the incredible offerings from Chris Alheit. Still a leading light in South Africa, look no further than Dreyfus Ashby for an allocation of Chris’s incredible Cartology white blend. A Cape legend!

Alheit Family Vineyards Cartology 2017

Big expectations as ever and this blend does not disappoint. 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. Drink 2019-2038+

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