2022 Kokerboom - Sadie Family Wines | € 54,38 (€ 65,80) |
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IN DE PERS 95 Anthony Mueller - robertparker.com (December 2023) Starting with a delightful mineral-laced nose, the 2022 Old Vine Series Kokerboom offers complex aromas of roasted almonds, underripe peach and wax melon with delightful citrus blossom. Light to medium-bodied and with 12.8% alcohol, the palate is complex, offering a beautiful weight with a waxy and phenolic mouthfeel before showcasing incredible mineral tension with energetic acidity. This beauty will remain food friendly for years and will benefit from another year in the bottle. Only 2,300 bottles were produced of this devastatingly gorgeous wine. Drink 2024-2038. 91 Neal Martin - vinous.com (Augustus 2023) The 2022 Kokerboom is a blend of Semillon Blanc and Gris, whole bunch pressed and aged in old foudres. This is the first time it has been bottled under 14% alcohol (13,2%). It has a backward, stoic nose, opening with yellow fruit, jasmine and fern. The palate is very well balanced with a fine thread of acidity. This is based on freshness and texture, with a touch of glycerin and lanolin towards the finish, with tangy orange rind and stem ginger on the aftertaste. Maybe just missing the X-factor of Sadie's other cuvées this tear? Drink 2024-2038. No trip to the Cape would be complete without visiting Eben Sadie in Swartland. Before we tasted his 2022s, Sadie gave me a tour of his impressive new winery under construction. One thing that he or his sons, who are taking an increasing active role in the running, will be short of in the future is space. « The 2022 was a difficult vintage on paper, » Sadie explains. « All the rain fell to the South of Swartland, and so we had a hangover of drought. We didn’t have a good winter. Just after flowering, after fruit set, we reduced our crop by half, taking it down one bunch per shoot, and we thinned tje shoots right down to maintain a conservative canopy management. It’s one of the benefits of having a fixed team of 26 people. Also, we have had the lowest alcohol levels ever, bringing in the fruit below 13,5% potential alcohol. I’m fascinated by the 2022’s because they are way better than Thought they would be. It’s a radical and expensive vintage for us because we bottled very little. It’s been a revelation. It will be interesting to see if we can have the same levels of alcohol in a wetter year. We’ll do some trials to see if it is possible. » This is a brilliant range of 2022s under his Old Vine Series umbrella that includes one new cuvée, a pure Chenin Blanc from Swartland named Rotsbank that Sadie told me he had waited 14 years make. The 2022 Skurfberg might well constitute the vinous highlight of my trip, consistently ranking among his best wines. Maybe just the Kokerboom left me wanting more. The 2021 Columella, his blend of Rhône varieties now around two decades old is wonderful, less powerful than older vintages yet imbued with greater finesse and articulating its site with greater clarity. EBEN SADIE In many respects, this 2022 Kokerboom displays the typical waxy, lanolin, and almost wet wool characters often associated with Semillon. The most astounding aspect is that this vineyard had only 180mm of rain this year, and this drought and hydric stress forced us to pick the vineyard much earlier than ever before. Yet very few green flavours are present, and most aromatics are the classic Semillon flavours, with maybe a granadilla passionfruit aromatics being a new dimension. The tannins, acidity, overall texture and volume in the wine are incredible, and we are in awe of the power of this terroir. The compact tannins and acidity take this wine to infinity and beyond... We produced very little, so please share with friends. VINIFICATION | The grapes are picked in the Citrusdal Mountains and it does require a major load of logistics to get the grapes down to the winery: the journey to the vineyard takes about 4 and a half hours so we only return to the cellar at the end of the day and then place the grapes in our cool room (at 4 degrees) for the night.The next day the grapes are sorted and the whole bunches go into the press.The pressing lasts 3 hours and in that period a margin of settling of the juice takes place in the collecting tank.The turbid juice is then transferred to one of our old foudres for fermentation. The juice composition of the Kokerboom vineyard is usually very low in natural nitrogen and yeast nutrients and the fermentation takes about 10 days to start and normally equires 6 - 8 months to complete, which often brings us to the following spring. By then the malolactic fermentation would usually have come to completion as well. AGEING | The wine is left in cask for the entire first 12 months on the fermentation lees and we bottle from the lees.We add about 60ppm of sulphur 2 - 3 weeks prior to bottling to ensure it is evenly distributed throughout the tank.We cannot mix it in for everything is still on the gross lees. NOTES | The Kokerboom vineyard consists of around 80% white Green Grape and 20% red Green Grape.We pick them together and press them simultaneously.The wine is one of the richest wines we produce with pure volume and massive texture.The Semillon ripens very well in this area due to the high solar radiation and the grapes enter the cellar between 13.5 – 14% alcohol. Citrusdal Mountain / Semillon of Groendruif / 12 months old foudre / Decomposed Table Mountain sandstone formations with a high iron content 16hl/ha / 12,8%vol / 2,1g/l / pH 3,34 / TA 5,8g/l / Total Suphur 82mg/l Sadie Family WinesWinery of the Year - Platter’s South African Wine Guide 2015 SadieThe Swartland Independent Producers veranderen Zuid Afrika als wijnland. Hun pionier is één van de beste wijnmakers ter wereld (en een ervaren surfer) genaamd Eben Sadie. Hij wordt vereerd als National Treasure en gamechanger. Hij ontgint wonderlijke terroirs, herstelt verwaarloosde bushvines en leidt de avant-garde in doordachte wijnbouw en vinificatie. Zijn Columella en Palladius zijn de eerste Afrikaanse Grands Vins. Daarnaast biedt zijn iconische “Ouwingerdreeks” kleine loten eigenzinnige bewaarwijnen uit specifieke climats. Appreciëer deze boeiende en betekenisvolle wijnen zolang de voorraad strekt. 2017 Winemakers' Winemaker Award, Institute of Masters of Wine Jane Masters MW, chairman of the Institute of Masters of Wine - Eben’s determined search to produce outstanding wines has put Swartland and South Africa on the map. I am delighted that the Master of Wine Winemakers have rewarded his dedication and talent – it’s truly well deserved. |