2023 Huilkrans

Chris Alheit was my first port of call on a chilly winter’s day at his winery in Hemel-en-Aarde that he runs with his wife Suzaan. Before broaching his newest releases, we had a frank exchange about the current state of play in the South African wine industry. Behind his self-effacing humor lies a pensive winemaker. It is part of what underlies Alheit’s success. He suggested, correctly, in my opinion, that it is time for the industry to open a new chapter. The industry has now grown up. So, what’s next?

Part of our discussion is woven into my main introduction. We then set about the task in hand, and Alheit gave his view on recent growing seasons and how they have reconfigured his cuvées.

“It was a really good vintage in 2023, whereas I thought 2022 was mediocre, a bit over-cropped,” he explained with a frankness rarely heard in Bordeaux or Burgundy. “The vines are super sensitive to rain and can overproduce easily, plus we had heatwaves in 2022. In 2023, for the early-ripening whites, we had a nice winter and cool spring with no heatwaves, nothing close to the previous year. But in late January and through February, everything south of the Bottelary Hills started getting regular downpours and our Pinots got rained out. I’ve got a fantastic cellar team that really helped. Instead of 250 tons in 2022, in 2023, we had 170 tons of fruit, which is about as much wine as I ever want to make. The only spot affected by oïdium was a plot that makes Nautical Dawn, so there are only 2,000 liters of that cuvée. Cartology is a bit brighter as it contains some of the Chenin Blanc that usually goes into Nautical Dawn. For Swartland and Bottelary, well, that is some of the best fruit I've harvested. Hereafter Here has some old vineyard fruit, but maybe that was a mistake looking back and, in the future, it will be composed of just younger vines, like a small nursery for Cartology. For the Cartology, I always want to have some of the top Sémillon from later-ripening parts of the vineyard on the lower slopes. We waited and waited. But the wine wasn't there and so the Semillon Monument was not bottled and blended into Cartology.”

I asked about any changes in the cellar. “We are gradually moving to larger vessels, including six diamond-shaped concrete tanks, plus concrete eggs and foudres. The cement vats are great for Fire By Night on granite soils, for example. I planted a hectare of Pontac [a red-fleshed variety once widely planted in Stellenbosch] on the farm in the Swartland, and I’m about to plant another two hectares. It is the only red variety that fits in with what we want to do.”

I concur with Alheit. His 2023s surpass his 2022s, which means they are quite brilliant, especially the Fire By Night and Magnetic North. Alheit’s wines represent the apex of contemporary Cape winemaking, infused with character, nuance and expression of place without a sense of conformity. No wonder that allocations are rapidly snapped up. Plus, the label designs are stunning. See also “Fogwell”, a new joint venture whereby Alheit shows he’s also a dab hand at Syrah.