alheit vineyards fire by night chenin blanc 2022

located in the walker bay region of south africa, alheit vineyards is a family estate established in 2011 by chris and suzaan alheit. driven by the desire to achieve the most authentic expression of this exceptional terroir, the couple produces white wines that are today among the most fascinating south african wines. following their meeting at the university of stellenbosch, chris and suzaan alheit, passionate about viticulture, travel the world (california, australia, germany, france) in order to develop their viticultural skills while continuing to refine their learning with eben sadie , one of the largest winemakers in south africa. the couple moved to the hemelrand farm, near hermanus, in 2010 with the ambition of revealing the potential of old south african chenin and sémillon vineyards. partners in the cellar and in the vineyard, the alheits surround themselves with other passionate winegrowers, including peter allan finlayson of domaine crystallum. chris and suzaan alheit unveiled their first vintage in 2011 with their cartology cuvée, which very quickly propelled the estate to the forefront of the international wine scene. the alheit family vineyard extends over 21 hectares of vines spread over 8 vineyards in the western cape: skurfberg, with clay soil and red sand, piekenierskloof, paardeberg, bottelary hills with steep slopes made up of granite with a little schist, tygerberg, franschhoek with quartz-rich sandstone and granite soil, false bay with maritime influences and hemel & aarde. consisting mostly of old non-irrigated chenin blanc vines and grown in cups, these plots, some of which are more than five hours away from the estate's cellars, are carefully selected for their varied terroir and their unique heritage in the world. fire by night is a single origin chenin blanc wine grown on our paardeberg property called nuwedam. the paardeberg occupies a mythical place in our minds. it is both ground zero for the quality revolution sweeping the cape and the base of operations for some of our country's wine heroes.