Alheit Magnetic North vertical tasting

Wine Cellar, the fine wine merchants and cellarers based in Cape Town, recently hosted a vertical tasting Magentic North, one of the pinnacle examples of Chenin Blanc in the Alheit Vineyards range. Grapes come from two unirrigated, ungrafted parcels one planted in 1984, the other in 1981 on Citrusdal Mountain (Skurfberg) at 520 meters above sea level. Planted on iron-rich sandy soil over clay, they comprise about 2.8ha together and give minute yields.

The tasting was presented in three flights of four wines. Those that were present knew that every vintage yet produced was included and that they were tasting in consecutive order from oldest to youngest. However, two mystery wines were also part of the line-up and the tasting would be conducted blind. My notes and ratings as follows:

Radio Lazarus 2012
Rating: 95.
Not originally rated.
Maiden vintage of this wine from a Bottelary vineyard. The nose shows some pleasing evolution with notes of bee’s wax and honey but also pear, peach and fynbos. The palate is rich and broad with well-integrated acidity. Layers of flavour and still very satisfying to drink.

Magnetic North 2013
Rating: 93.
Original rating: 96 – July 2014.
Peach and apricot but also significant advancement – oatmeal plus nutty, yeasty notes. Full and intensely savoury finish. Drink up.

Magnetic North 2014
Rating: 96.
Original rating: 96 – May 2015.
Lime, lemon, peach and struck-match reduction on the nose. Pure fruit and bright acidity before a finish that’s pithy and extraordinarily long. Great precision and energy.

Magnetic North 2015
Rating: 94.
Original rating: 96 – July 2015.
Exotic aromatics of melon, pineapple and some wet wool. Sweet, rich and round, tangy acidity lending life, some bitterness to the finish. Characterful but probably at its peak.

Magnetic North 2016
Rating: 94.
Original rating: 96 – May 2017.
Stone fruit, cut apple and honey plus yeasty, leesy notes on the nose. The palate is dense and thick textured with coated acidity. Some debate about whether this bottle showed signs of premature oxidation due to closure failure.

Magnetic North 2017
Rating: 97.
Original rating: 96 – June 2018.
Beguiling aromatics of pear, peach, citrus, mint and fynbos plus wet wool. The palate is all about controlled power – great concentration and punchy acidity before a dry finish. Time in bottle has only served this wine well.

Magnetic North 2018
Rating: 96.
Original rating: 98 – August 2019
Lime, green apple, white peach, fynbos and some flinty reduction on the nose while the palate shows pure fruit, electric acidity and a pithy finish. A lighter vintage holding well.

Magnetic North 2019
Rating: 98.
Original rating: 97 – July 2020.
Gorgeous aromatics of white, green and yellow fruit plus fynbos. The palate is vivid and elegant. Lovely fruit expression, the finish lightly grippy. Poised and so very detailed, a classic example of old-vine Chenin Blanc.

Magnetic North 2020
Rating: 95.
Original rating: 96 – August 2021.
Exotic aromatics of melon, blue orange, grass and herbs. The palate is substantial – broad and open with fresh acidity and a savour finish. Not as tightly wound as either 2017 or 2019 and hence destined for earlier drinking.

Magnetic North 2021 never released due to equipment failure.

Gone South 2022
Rating: 98.
Original rating: 98 – October 2023.
Super-intricate aromatics of pear, peach, citrus and fynbos while the palate shows weightless intensity and plenty of energy. Chris Alheit declassified this vintage but this again seems to have been an excessively cautious decision.

Sadie Ouwingerdreeks Skurfberg 2022
Rating: 96.
Original rating: 93 – August 2023.
The nose is very pretty with notes of flowers, herbs, pear, peach and lime while the palate is light bodied with fresh acidity and a pithy finish. On release, I noted the alcohol as being lower than usual (13.08%) and remarked that it appeared “a little incomplete and lacking in detail – time in bottle will be revealing” and it seems to be on an upward trajectory.

Magnetic North 2023
Rating 98 in June 2024 – see here. It’s pedigree plain to see but in the context of this tasting almost ridiculously primary.

Some general observations When do South African white wines provide optimal drinking is a question that gets asked perennially, and based on this tasting, my answer would be five to seven years from vintage, the 2017 and 2019 currently in great shape, no longer entirely primary but leaving the drinker imagining what greater interest they might still provide rather than in decline and providing you with a wistful feeling as to former glories now past. One proviso here is, of course, that some have a greater tolerance for developed characters, and if very tertiary aromas and flavours are what turn you on, then feel free to age your wine longer. The other qualification to make is that there will always be exceptions to the general rule – the good showing of the 2014, a somewhat unheralded vintage, was a pleasant surprise.

The converse to the above is that drinking truly great modern-era wines like Magnetic North too early, which is to say on release or within three years of vintage, is to miss out on a large part of the pleasure that these wines can provide.

Lastly, while Magnetic North clearly originates comes from a superior site, tasting this line-up gave a sense of both viticulture and winemaking becoming more precise and refined over time, vintage variation notwithstanding. Closure, inevitably, is also a factor in how these wines mature –  the shift from natural to technical cork that Alheit undertook from 2018 appears to be serving Magnetic North well.