2023 Cartology Chenin Blanc/ Semillon
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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.
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Average Score
Tamlyn Currin, jancisrobinson.com
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Cartology parcels are dry-farmed bush vines, with a minimum age of 35 years, although most are between 40 and 50 years old. Average yields for these parcels is around 3 tons/ha or around 20 hl/ha. Cartology 2023 is 94% Chenin Blanc and 6% Sémillon. The Chenin comes from our parcels in the Skurfberg, Piekenierskloof, Malmesbury, Paardeberg, Bottelary, False Bay and Tygerberg. The Sémillon comes from the old La Colline block in Franschhoek. The grapes were hand-sorted and whole-bunch pressed. The juice was very lightly settled to very cloudy raw juice with no additions to the raw juice. Spontaneous fermentation took place in concrete eggs, old foudres and old barrels (various sizes). Fermentation of various parcels lasted anywhere between three weeks and 11 months. The wine was kept on lees for around 12 months, then rested in tank on fine lees without fining for a further five months prior to bottling. RS 2 g/l, TA 5.67 g/l, pH 3.36. Tense nose. It smells of a sense of waiting, of expectation, the pause before the storm. Tangerine. Pineapple skin. Pomelo. There's a moment, mid palate, when the flavours, too, pause, coiling into themselves as if trying to contain their energy. A wine that seems in no hurry to spread its wings, although you can see them there, rippling with undercurrent of power. An aggregate of tiny snapshots of gold and green, filling the corners with nervous energy. Hold this back if you can – it needs all the time you can give it. (TC)
This has an elegant and pretty nose of fresh pears, lemons, chamomile, wild thyme, beeswax and minerals. It’s deliciously salty and savory 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.