Chris Alheit

From the Fine Wine Safari Cellar – Part 8: Alheit Vineyards Radio Lazarus 2012 Versus Radio Lazarus 2017…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

In today’s archive cellar examination, we look at not one but two iconic unicorn Chenin Blanc expressions from Chris Alheit, both tasted in December 2025 – the maiden release 2012 Radio Lazarus and then Chris Alheit’s last release. The 2017 represents the final release of Radio Lazarus made from two hilltop sites with stony shale soils: one planted in 1978 at 400m, and the other in 1971 at 450m. Due to the 2015-2019 Cape drought, these old vines finally reached the end of their lifespan and were simply no longer commercially viable. Radio Lazarus is unique in that it is fermented in large clay pots of 600 litres each, made from clay collected from the bottom of the same hill.

Renowned South African Wine journalist Tim James recently wrote a fitting homage to Radio Lazarus in June 2025, commenting… “I’ve previously had bottles of the 2012 Radio Lazarus at ten years that also showed remarkable youthfulness of flavour and freshness, while having the harmony, suavity, deep complexity, and texture of maturity. A great advertisement for the longevity and development potential of fine local Chenin Blanc.”

Tim continued… “The 2012 was the maiden vintage, and the one that preceded the 2014, as all the 2013 grapes went towards the blend for that year’s Cartology. Which means, in fact, that there were only two released vintages of Radio Lazarus that came from a single vineyard on the Bottelary Hills. From 2015 to 2017, there was a contribution from a second, nearby, high-lying Chenin Blanc vineyard (a little higher, a little older, on a hill bristling with even more of the radio masts that gave the wine half of its name).”

Tim concludes, somewhat sombrely… “It wasn’t just the cruel dryness and heat that finished it off; hungry buck, confronted by barren veld, had come like never before to eat what green shoots there were.” Eight final crates of 2018 grapes were picked that year off the other, original vineyard, but no wine was commercially released. In their release notes that year, the Alheits wrote of the glimmering of pleasure in knowing that “both vineyards were on death row, due to be ripped up, and yet they lived on a few more years to make some of the loveliest wines we’ve ever had the chance to work with.”

Alheit Vineyards Radio Lazarus 2012, WO Stellenbosch

This is a truly impressive bottle of Old Vine Chenin Blanc revealing complex regal aromatics of honey and biscuity leesy nuances and a subtle reductive vein before biscuit, quince jelly and buttered white toast. But this wine just keeps on offering up more and more… camomile tea, bees wax, burnt orange peel, apple puree, and oyster shell sea breeze hints. The palate is no less impressive, densely textured, unctuous, and creamy with quince, pineapple puree, more burnt orange, beautifully glycerol and full supported by fresh tangy acids that create a vibrant energy, sweet and sour yellow plum and a kelpy, maritime finish. Wow. A true unicorn wine that’s still firing on all cylinders. Drink now but certainly no rush.

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

Alheit Vineyards Radio Lazarus 2017, WO Stellenbosch

This vintage keeps going up in everyone’s estimation for both reds and whites and this beautiful drought vintage expression shows complex notes of salted liquorice, pristine refreshing saline nuances, earthy savoury peaches, yellow orchard stone fruits together with hints of wet straw, wet grey slate and green apple puree nuances. The palate is seductively silky and soft yet full and glycerol in the mouth with lovely harmonious chamomile, honey, and white peach notes on the long, characterful silky finish. Beautifully youthful and vibrant still, this wine should continue to put on extra weight and increase in complexity as it ages further. A fitting swansong vintage for this Old Vine vineyard.

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

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.

Another Strong Performance from the Carinus Family Wines Polkadraai Heuwels Chenin Blanc 2020…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Cousins Danie and Hugo are 5th generation growers with prime vineyards in the Swartland, Devon Valley and the very exciting Polkadraai ward in Stellenbosch. Great wine is made in the vineyards and they supply a roll-call of exceptional producers – names like Alheit Vineyards, Crystallum, Raats Family Wines, Thorne & Daughters, Mulderbosch and LeRiche to name but a few. Embodying the drive of the new generation Hugo and Danie decided not only to sell grapes but to make some wine too. So started Carinus Family Wines using a selection of grapes from their extensive vineyard plantings to focus on producing some high quality reds and whites that offer excellent value for money.

The 2020 Polkadraai Hills Chenin Blanc is already their third release. After whole bunch pressing the juice was moved to concrete eggs for fermentation and ageing which took ten months. The granitic soils and total absence of oak has created a pure but punchy wine with an attractive “nakedness” on display with a perfect balance of pH (3.14) and acidity (6.6g/l) that should allow this wine to develop further beneficial complexity with additional ageing in bottle.

Carinus Family Wines Polkadraai Heuwels Chenin Blanc 2020, WO Polkadraai Hills

An attractive Stellenbosch Chenin Blanc that displays a wonderfully cool, sleek, mineral laden aromatics flushed with stony gravel notes, fynbos, crunchy green pear, white peach and subtle salty citrus zest nuances. On the palate, a lovely full texture marries restrained elegance with a glycerol liquid minerality, lime zest and quince nuances and a long, stony wet river pebble finish. Concrete egg Chenin Blanc has never been more sexy! Drink on release and over 6 to 8+ years.

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

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)