Ahrens Family Hometown Chenin 2023 Wellington, Western Cape, South Africa 75cl

Albert and Heidi Ahrens founded The Ahrens Family in 2008, and the label has become a byword for terroir-driven Cape wines with a strong sense of place. Albert learned his craft across the Rhone, Priorat and Champagne and in the Swartland, and now works with old vines and low-intervention methods from a small cellar near Paarl. His mantra is that every wine deserves a proper address.

Wellington became the family’s home town in 2015, and after a long search Albert found this 1979 old bush-vine Chenin in 2018, releasing the first vintage in 2019. It sits in his Terroir range as a single-vineyard bottling. The soil is a duplex mix carrying both quartz and koffieklip, the coffee-coloured ferricrete pebbles that give several of his wines their name. Quartz lends freshness and minerality, the iron-rich stone lends power.

Wellington runs warm, so the cooler 2023 season was a real bonus. A dry, warm winter gave way to a notably cool, slightly wetter ripening period, letting the grapes reach full flavour at a slower, gentler pace. Ahrens picks his Chenin in components at different ripeness levels, then blends for balance, and the even 2023 conditions made that easier, preserving both richness and freshness.

Bright pale gold. The nose offers yellow apple, pear, quince and white peach, with orange blossom, a waxy note and a clear flinty minerality. Medium to full-bodied and finely textured, the palate mixes ripe orchard fruit with a savoury, stony core and a subtle creaminess from time in barrel. Bright acidity drives a long, dry, mineral finish. Serve with roast chicken, pork or grilled fish, and cellar up to six years.

Between the richer, warmer Koffieklip and the leaner Kwarts van die Paarl, Hometown is the balanced middle of the range, and Ahrens’s old vine Chenins regularly feature in South Africa’s Platter’s guide. In style it sits with the Cape’s serious, barrel-aged Chenins, closer to a fine white Burgundy in feel than to anything simple. A rewarding bottle for a good dinner, and one that carries real personal meaning for the winemaker.