OUR

CELLAR

The Alvi’s Drift wine cellar has been making wine since 1932. The year, not the time.

Winemaking is never a rushed affair in the Alvi’s Drift wine cellar.


At our winery, we harvest 9 000 tonnes of grapes, the very best of which is selected for Alvi’s Drift’s award-winning wines.

Alvis Drift Winery

8Mil LITRES PER VINTAGE

Our cellar is responsible for processing more than 8 million litres of wine with every vintage.

Here, head winemaker Alvi van der Merwe combines his efforts and passion with those of cellar master Riaan Marais, winemaker Wim Viljoen and assistant winemaker Bernard Louw, as well as his Cape Wine Master wife, Junel to oversee the process from start to finish.

DISTINCT CHARACTERS

Every Alvi’s Drift wine follows a unique journey through our cellar. Here, many of our varietals in the red wine blends are fermented and matured using different methods of wine production, with each wine vinified separately in order to showcase the distinct character of each grape varietal.

OUR WINE RANGES
Alvis Drift Winery

“It’s quite simple. We work with fruit. In order to extract maximum flavour, you need to pick any fruit at optimal ripeness. Ultimately, the production of wine is the preservation of fruit.”

- Alvi van der Merwe -

Alvis Drift Winery

Preserving The Fruit

Each wine component is painstakingly prepared ahead of the wine’s final blending, to bring forth the very best of the fruit-driven characteristics that Alvi’s Drift wines are so well known for.

Wild yeast fermentation is often used, as this gives rich complexity to our wines – allowing wine lovers to appreciate them even more. Instead of fermenting for a week or two, many of our wines ferment for a month or two instead.

A Passion For Wine

“When the grapes start coming in, that’s when Alvi starts to play. He’s tasting the juice, checking the pH, asking for input, experimenting with different wild yeast strains. People often tell him he’s wasting time, but he’s not, he’s creating. The attention to detail, the level of care – with Alvi, it’s always 'Can I do it better?'

Our passion for wine really comes to life in the cellar. Alvi, myself, and our winemaking team, it’s like a symphony in which we all have our unique part to play.”

- Junel van der Merwe -

Alvis Drift Winery

WINE CLUB

Join the Alvi’s Drift wine club and become part of our community of wine enthusiasts from all around the world. Members receive exclusive offers, content, invitations to special events, access to members-only competitions and promotions, rewards and more.

FIND OUT MORE

WINE TASTING

Alvi’s Drift is a working farm and not generally open to the public for wine tastings.

However, we can sometimes accommodate special wine tasting requests. Whether you wish to visit us for a private wine tasting, or want us to be part of your special event, please tell us more and let’s see what we can arrange.