Nautical Dawn 2023

South of Stellenbosch and close to the famous False Bay, there is a small granite hill called Sinai. Just 4 km up there, you can see the coastal waves crashing against the rocks. The hillside is planted from top to bottom with Chenin Blanc . The instinctive Chris Alheit presents here the “ Nautical Dawn ” vintage, from a plot planted in 1978 on the upper part of the hillside. The grapes were harvested and sorted by hand. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts takes place in an old 2000 liter tun as well as in a few old barrels of different sizes. The wine will then rest on its lees for approximately 12 months in these same containers. Then it will be transferred to stainless steel vats with its fine lees, without filtration, for an additional 6 months before bottling. No chemical inputs have been added. On the palate, this wine has great energy and a strong personality. The aromatic palette is very complex with notes of guava , ripe apricot , yellow peach , nectarine , quince , William pear , baked apple , orange peel , grapefruit , lime and dried herbs . The acidity, fine and sharp, is coated by a beautiful substance and ends with a long and saline finish. A little gem produced in only 3,500 bottles!


"Nautical Dawn is the phase of dawn between astrological dawn and civil dawn. It is a mysterious time of day - dark enough to see the stars for navigation, clear enough to hoist a sail."

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.