Chenin Blanc | Alheit Cartology & Old-Vine South African – The Fulham Wine Company
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Chenin Blanc

All South African, all from old vines

Chenin Blanc comes from the Loire, but South Africa has more of it planted than anywhere else - much of it old dry-farmed bush vines that yield very little. Alheit Vineyards is the clearest expression of what that now means: Cartology blends several old Cape sites, Huilkrans comes from the Skurfberg alone. Kleine Zalze's Family Reserve and Project Z give the Stellenbosch reading. All four are dry. Tracked UK delivery, next-day available.

Alheit Vineyards Cartology white wine bottle.
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Alheit Vineyards Cartology (2024)
£40.00
Kleine Zalze Family Reserve Chenin Blanc white wine bottle.
Kleine Zalze Family Reserve Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch (2022)
£24.00
Kleine Zalze Project Z Chenin Blanc white wine bottle.
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Kleine Zalze Project Z Chenin Blanc, 2019
£44.50
Alheit Vineyards Huilkrans white wine bottle.
Alheit Vineyards Huilkrans, Skurfberg (2024)
£72.50
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Why South Africa owns Chenin Blanc

Chenin Blanc comes from the Loire, but South Africa has more of it planted than any other country by a wide margin - much of it old, dry-farmed bush vines that yield very little fruit. For most of the last century that fruit went into bulk wine and brandy. The past fifteen years have been spent identifying the best old blocks and bottling them separately, and that shift is why this page exists. All four bottles here are South African, part of the wider South African wine range.

Alheit Vineyards: Cartology and Huilkrans

Alheit built its reputation on finding old vineyards across the Cape and treating them as sites worth naming. Cartology is a Chenin-led blend drawn from several of them. Huilkrans comes from the Skurfberg alone, a remote stretch of the Olifants River region where the vines are old, unirrigated and low-yielding. Both sit at the fuller end of the range, with the rich and opulent whites, though neither is heavy.

Kleine Zalze and the Stellenbosch style

Kleine Zalze works in Stellenbosch, warmer and more established than the Skurfberg, and makes two here. The Family Reserve is the more familiar reading of the grape - textured, dry, with some oak influence. Project Z is the experimental one. Between the two houses on this page you get the range Chenin Blanc is capable of, from taut to full, all of it dry.

Serving Chenin Blanc, and tracked UK delivery

Fifteen to twenty minutes out of the fridge suits these better than pouring them cold, since texture is a large part of what you are getting. They also keep better than most whites - the good old-vine bottlings will develop over several years. The wider white wine range covers the other grapes. Orders go tracked across the UK mainland with next-day available.

The Fulham Wine Co. Take

Chenin Blanc is the most underrated white grape in the world and South Africa is where that is changing fastest. Old vines that were planted for bulk wine are now being bottled site by site, and Alheit is the clearest example of what that produces. A short list because we only wanted the ones doing it properly.

FAQs About Chenin Blanc

What does Chenin Blanc taste like?

It depends more on where and how it was made than almost any other white grape. It can be taut and sharp or full and waxy, from the same variety. The South African style leans towards the fuller end while keeping the acidity that makes it interesting. All the bottles here are dry.

Is Chenin Blanc sweet?

It can be, in the Loire, where the grape is used for everything from bone-dry to genuinely sweet dessert wine. South African Chenin is dry as a rule, and every bottle on this page is. The texture can read as richness, but there is no sugar behind it.

What does old-vine mean, and why does it matter?

Old vines produce less fruit, which concentrates what they do produce, and their deeper roots cope better with drought and heat. South Africa has an unusual amount of very old Chenin still in the ground because it was planted for bulk wine and never pulled out. It is not an automatic guarantee of quality, but the potential is higher.

Where should I start?

Kleine Zalze's Family Reserve is the more approachable introduction and the closest to what people expect from a good white. Alheit's Cartology is the one that shows why South African Chenin has started attracting serious attention internationally.

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