Chris and Suzaan Alheit have been making some of the Cape’s finest whites for the past ten years
The premiumisation of the Cape wine industry over the past three decades has been driven by a series of innovations, about equally distributed between viticulture and vinification. There is better winery hardware: presses delivering gentler pressing cycles to sorting tables for removing under- or overripe or blemished grapes before the fermentation.
The barrels are generally less heavily toasted, there is less new oak and the wood is kept for longer. This is not only to save money (top-end barrels cost nearly R20,000) but also to minimise the effect of oak aromas and tannins on the wine. Wineries have also been using concrete eggs and terracotta qvevri (an ancient vessel now very much à la mode). Many are buying extended-use large oak vats...
