Alheit Vineyards Lost & Found Straw Wine 2019
Lost & Found is a profoundly special and unique bottling from Alheit Vineyards, marking a rare venture into sweet wines. This wine is a Straw Wine (or Vin de Paille), a style achieved by painstakingly drying grapes on wooden racks after harvest to concentrate the sugars and flavours before pressing. This particular 2019 vintage is a one-off bottling of great personal significance to Chris Alheit, sourced from an ancient Muscat of Alexandria vineyard (known locally as Hanepoot) in the Breedekloof region. This ancient vineyard, dating back to the 1880s, offered a unique density and concentration perfectly suited for this demanding style and this was the last vintage farmed by the De Wet Boonzaaier family who lived on and farmed Gevonden for six generations. To craft this wine, the grapes are laid out on wooden racks and on shade cloth, allowing them to dry outdoors for a full two weeks. The resulting raisins are then pressed for five days at full pressure, yielding syrup with a sugar concentration of around 54 Brix (54% mass/volume). This juice fermented for more than a year in stainless steel, finally becoming stable at just over 7% alc with a residual sugar of around 450g/. It sits in the glass like a smouldering ember, joyous, full of sunshine, reeking of apricots and marmalade fireworks. It tastes completely decadent: Fiery and silky; sweet and sour.
