Young Guns
Online-Only Auction, 17 - 28 November 2022
Young Guns | For the classicists and the geeks alike, an incredible collection
About the SessionWhat is a Young Gun?
A talented winemaker who pushes the boundaries, breaks the rules and creates cutting-edge wines with personality and energy. Young Guns either work, or have worked for notable estates, but also produce unique wines under their own labels. They are dynamic, working together in pushing the envelope and promoting brand SA. They are the winemakers who should be on your radar as they are making some of the most daring, innovative, and simply delicious wines in SA. They travel and taste extensively, drawing inspiration from the classics through to the more edgy, hip styles and techniques, from the profound and obscure wine regions of the world. And then they apply their own creative interpretations on home soil, often searching for unique vineyard sites, cultivars and old vines. The results are most often small in numbers and high in demand, selling out on release. They are the rising stars, the future icons and ultimately, tomorrow’s investment wines.
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About this Item
Chris and Suzanne Alheit set the wine world on fire with their maiden 2011 Cartology receiving 96 points from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. Aiming to harness the best old vineyards across the Cape, the Cartology offered a textured old-vine Chenin Blanc Semillon blend with startling purity and depth. Passionate and focused on the expression of place, tiny, long-forgotten parcels were added to the range, and are today South Africa’s most profound white wines. We auction maiden vintages of Magnetic Makstok on the legendary ‘Skurfkop’ in the Citrusdal area, Huilkrans in the Paardeberg, La Colline in Franschhoek, and, extremely rare Radio Lazarus in Stellenbosch.
Huilkrans is a single origin Chenin Blanc wine. It has gained a very strong following amongst Chenin lovers and is considered by critics to be approximately equal to Magnetic North in quality. If Magnetic North is the tenor voice of Skurfberg, then Huilkrans must be the deeper baritone. It works on a lower, richer frequency, but still unmistakably from this great appellation.
Critics Ratings
'Every so often you come across a wine in its first vintage that’s simply, incontrovertibly worldclass. This is one of them. Made with Chenin from three blocks (7, 12 and 13) from Joshua Visser’s Oudam farm on the Skurfberg. Dense, rich and ferrous with salty freshness, coiled power and the sense that you are tasting a landscape, not just a wine. Incredibly long and satisfying. 2020-27.'- Tim Atkin MW, SA Special Report 2018, 97/100
'Citrusdal Mountain’s Skurfberg vineyard responsible for some of SA’s most renowned chenins; this majestic 2017 joins them. Power, richness, with resonating length to its bracing finish. A grand wine, deserving time & contemplation. Spontaneous ferment, older oak. Unfined, unfiltered, as all.' - Platter's SA Wine Guide 2019, 4.5* (94/100)
'Grapes from the Skurfberg farm called Oudam owned by the Visser family. A captivating nose of hay, pear, peach, citrus and apple plus earth and a little leesy complexity. Extraordinary fruit concentration making for a palate that’s rich but perfectly balanced and absolutely flavour packed. Lovely proportions, plenty of detail, the finish extremely long. Neat and tidy, which is to say so very well judged when it comes to the winemaking, but there’s also no denying that there’s a very special site involved making for something utterly distinctive. Alcohol: 14.24%' - Christian Eedes, Winemag.co.za, 98'/100
'The 2017 Hulkrains ("crying cliff") is named after a cliff close to the vineyard that is said to weep when it rains. Hitherto it was blended into the Cartology. The vines were planted on 1976 on red sand soils located at 450 meters above sea level. The wine has a wonderful, pure bouquet of dried honey, orange blossom, broom and just a hint of wild fennel, all detailed and expressive of their place of origin, as depicted on the label. The palate is very well balanced with touches of honeysuckle on the entry and a fine bead of acidity, and quite saline in the mouth, showing a touch of lemongrass toward the persistent finish. Outstanding.' - Neal Martin, Vinous, 95/100 (Aug 2018)
'The 2017 Hulikrans is a bit more on the steely and acidic side. The mouthfeel is lifted and punchier on the mid-palate. It reminds me of the classic Loire "acid slam" that you get from warmer vintage Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley. The lemon-focused, white flower nose and palate are classic descriptors for Chenin, with the soft phenolic bitterness that one would expect. This wine has some of the textural complexities that make the mouthfeel interesting for me. Medium-bodied, the wine ends with a medium finish. These grapes come from the Odam farm in Skurberg, from dry-farmed bush vines with low yields. Only 280 cases made.' - Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, 91/100 (Oct 2019)
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