2023 Hemelrand Vine Garden

Hemelrand is a vineyard on the cold and windy Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge at 360 m on gravelly clay and sandstone. The vineyard was planted in 2010 with Chardonnay, Roussanne, Verdelho, Chenin Blanc, and Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains. Because it's a marginal site, the proportions of the different grapes produced significantly varies each vintage. 'The idea is to bottle the wine just as the vineyard produces it, effectively creating a white field blend that changes every year depending on the vintage conditions.' 36% Chardonnay, 28% Roussanne, 18% Chenin, 17% Verdelho and 1% Muscat picked early in the morning, sorted in the vineyard and whole-bunch pressed. The juice was very lightly settled, cloudy with no additions. Spontaneous fermentation in old barrels of various sizes. Fermentation lasted for about two months. The wine was kept on lees for around 12 months, then rested in tank on fine lees without fining for a further six months prior to bottling. Chris Alheit told me that there was a bit more botrytis (noble rot) in this wine than in the 2022. RS 2.7 g/l, TA 5.8 g/l, pH 3.39. A slight body shock to go from the structural power of Huilkrans and Magnetic North to the lustrous golden shimmer and seduction of Hemelrand. The wine is so rich it almost tastes sweet (which, at 2.7 g/l of residual, it most certainly is not). It's a tango of sweet and sharp, bitter and spice. Honey and crab-apple jelly, kumquat marmalade and russet apples. A shifting sifting shimmer of golden-grass spices. A long, murmuring finish leaving the sense of fireflies in its wake. (TC)