Alheit Vineyards Huilkrans 2024

This cuvée comes from the Oudam farm, in the Citrusdal Mountain appellation, in the foothills of the Skurfberg, north of Cape Town. The old bush vines, planted between 1974 and 1989, occupy a gentle south-facing slope at 450 metres above sea level. They grow without irrigation on deep red sands over red clay, with yields of around 1.5 tonnes per hectare.

The grapes are sorted by hand, then whole-bunch pressed. The juice, very lightly settled and with no additions whatsoever, ferments spontaneously in foudres and old barrels, mostly of 400 litres, for around a month. The wine stays on its lees for about 12 months, then rests for six months in tank on its fine lees before being bottled unfined.

This wine reveals notes of citrus zest, orange blossom, orange juice, ripe apple, lemon, spices, salt and stone. Citrus and white flowers make up a broad, generous bouquet. The palate is full and structured, with serious, perfectly integrated acidity, a mineral backbone and a straight, taut and energetic finish.

The first vines were planted in South Africa by Dutch settlers in the 1650s, although wine production did not really begin to take off until the arrival of French Protestants, in the 1680s, with their skills and their knowledge of viticulture. Stellenbosch is also a historic wine region, with the first vineyards being planted there in the 1690s.



Today South Africa is one of the most important wine producing countries in the southern hemisphere. With over 300 years of winemaking history, it is often described as a bridge between the Old and New Worlds. The majority of wines are produced using New World winemaking techniques, but they often have more in common stylistically with their Old World counterparts. Since the end of apartheid, South African wine has received international attention and acclaim for its wide variety of styles.



South Africa's wine industry is spread across the lush and rugged landscape of the Western Cape. Here, the abundance of mountains, valleys and plateaus allows winemakers to produce a wide variety of styles. Vineyards can also be found in the Orange River region of the Northern Cape, where the flat, arid landscape is dominated by the Kalahari Desert. Most of South Africa's wine regions have a Mediterranean climate, strongly influenced by the meeting of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.



The country's signature grape variety is Pinotage, an indigenous cross of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut that is rarely found in quantity in other wine-producing countries. Shiraz (Syrah) is also widely planted, as are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (often combined in a Bordeaux blend). South African Chardonnay, Chenin and Sauvignon Blanc have become popular internationally in recent years.