A number of years ago, Tim Atkins, Master of Wine, declared that it was time to admit that South African Chenin Blancs have surpassed those from France’s Loire Valley, the varietal’s ancestral homeland. This did not come as a surprise to wine lovers who have been paying even the slightest attention. For at least three decades the Stellenbosch winemaker Ken Forrester was the de facto South African Chenin evangelist, and his FMC (and later the flagship Dirty Little Secret) made believers of the discerning.
These days it is nearly impossible to drink bad South African Chenin. But even here in the Cape winelands, Chris and Suzaan Alheit stand out. Their Cartology, typically more than 90% Chenin with a dash of Sémillon, has become the poster child for the varietal.
I recently opened a bottle of the 2023 Cartology, an elegant, sensuous wine with herbal aromatics on the nose, and peach and green apples on the palate. The Alheits focus on letting the old bush vines express themselves—to “find the voice of the land, not the mark of the winemaker,” as Chris Alheit is fond of saying. This wine is made in relatively small quantities and can sometimes be hard to find, but is worth the effort. https://alheitvineyards.co.za/