Alheit Vineyards : Cartology 2023

Here's an ambitious wine that beautifully captures the quality and the aspirations of contemporary South African wine. A wine with a clear identity, the Alheit Vineyards 2023 Western Cape Cartology Bush Vines is a blend of 94% Chenin Blanc and 6% Semillon. It draws its fruit from various carefully selected parcels of bush vines in the Western Cape. It starts off slow but maintains a beautiful pace as it picks up intensity and aromas with stone fruit, sweet citrus and crushed stone. It is naturally fermented, and you taste the delicate texture of the fruit. That lasting intensity pounces up from behind and leaves you with a long-lasting sense of purity and freshness.

This has an elegant and pretty nose of fresh pears, lemons, chamomile, wild thyme, beeswax and minerals. It’s deliciously salty and savoury on the palate, medium-bodied but compact and fleshy, nicely weighted. Long and cool. 94% chenin blanc and 6% semillon from bush vines across the Western Cape. Drink from 2025.

The 2023 Cartology has slightly more Sémillon in the blend this year (see the Producer Commentary for Chris Alheit's reasoning why). As usual, this is a blend of what he considers to be his best parcels. It has one of the classiest bouquets you will find in a South African white this vintage: yellow fruit, a soupçon of peach skin, lanolin and whisked egg whites. Stunning delineation and purity. The palate is very well balanced with a bright and tensile opening. This has a killer line of acidity and is full of tension and complexity, concluding with a mineral-driven finish that has a slightly waxy/resinous texture. Very long. Very classy.