Bancroft

About Ahrens Family Wines

Albert Ahrens combined his love of travel and wine by starting his career in the Rhône Valley, Champagne and Priorat. Taking this experience back to South Africa, he determined to champion wine that displays its origins with a purity and focus. He passionately describes his wines as “having an address” or a “postcard”; wines that capture a time, a place and a moment. He embraces vintage change and intends for each of his wines to have their own unique identity. Albert says, “share with one person, if you must, especially when drinking the reds!”

Based near Paarl, in Wildepaardejacht, Albert’s terroir-driven wines come from a number of important wine-growing areas in the Cape including Swartland, Voor-Paardeberg, Stellenbosch, Paarl and Wellington. He works closely with growers, often biodynamic and organic, to buy small parcels of very high-quality grapes, travelling thousands of kilometres a year to spend time in the vineyards. He vinifies these parcels to display and exude their specific local characteristics in blended wine using wild yeast from each vineyard, saying, “getting the balance right in a natural way is why we do it.”For his red wines, he primarily uses three-year-old French oak foudres and longer seasoned barrels for ageing, eliminating the need for toasting, importantly respecting the characteristics of each terroir and the fruit.