2016 Alheit - Cartology Bush Vines
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Tasting notes
The 2016 Cartology comprises some lots from Paardeberg that were picked early to maintain natural acidity. It perhaps does not quite deliver the same quality as the 2015. This bottle replicated the one I picked off the list at Hide restaurant a few weeks earlier. It has a more mineral-driven bouquet than the 2015: crushed chalk, pressed white flowers and a light sea spray influence. The palate is very well balanced with a fine bead of acidity, a judicious dab of ginger and lemongrass, beautifully balanced with a persistent, saline aftertaste. Tasted at the Alheit seminar with Chris Alheit in London.
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
More Stellenbosch fruit because it was hard to pick on time to keep acidity. More difficult vintage, says Alheit. Scented with citrus and lime leaf, creamy and spicy too with just a touch of oak-fermented and lees mealiness. This has wonderful richness of fruit but also a lovely acid tension giving an incredibly long finish. Super-creamy. (JH)
Mix of parcels all over including Skurfberg. He deliberately picked early this year. Smoky, spicy, grown-up ambitious wine with a skein of something more complex – not as blatant as passion-fruit juice but something high in acid and fruity. Very fine and tight and obviously just unfurling. (JR)