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 | 2023 Kokerboom - Sadie Family Wines | € 61,37 (€ 74,26) |
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Citrusdal Mountain / Semillon of Groendruif / 12 months old foudre / Decomposed Table Mountain sandstone formations with a high iron content 16hl/ha / 14 %vol / 1,5 g/l / pH 3,32 / TA 6,1 g/l / Total Suphur 82mg/l IN DE PERS 93 Neal Martin - vinous.com (September 2024) The 2023 Kokerboom is a blend of co-planted Sémillon Blanc and Gris on sandstone with shale and silt - Sadie's most northerly parcel in the Cape. Yellow plum and light waxy scents slowly emerge the nose; this is another 2023 that takes time to open in the glass, with just a hint of star anise in the background. Fresh and tensile, the palate is well balanced with citric notes of bitter lemon and orange rind, leading to another strict and lonear finish that lingers in the mouth. Very fine. Drink 2025-2045. Last year, Eben Sadie walked me through his winery, which was basically just four walls and half a roof. Twelve months and a lot of sleepless nights later, the finishing touches are being applied. Wow, it’s impressive. Every last detail has been considered in terms of functionality, aesthetics and sustainability. In the upstairs tasting room, you find a fully-equipped kitchen that most restaurants can only dream about, though Sadie has no plans to open one. It’s for his workers. Indeed, he stressed the importance of hiring local skilled labor. Downstairs, I walked through the vat room that has a high-ceilinged, cathedral-like design. All that’s missing is a stained-glass window. In Bordeaux, this would not look out of place, but in Swartland, it is a statement that is a testament to everything Sadie has achieved. It is concurrent with a turning of the page as his two sons, Markus and Xander, take increasing roles in the estate’s running. The 2023s, the last to be vinified in the old cellar, were on show. I asked Sadie his views on the growing season. “We used to pick over two months, but we now pick over 4 to 5 weeks,” Sadie explained. “Everything got massively compressed, but the new cellar gives us a logistical advantage. The 2023 and 2024 vintages have been difficult because of that compression. We are struggling with an absence of proper spring. Our summers start late, and picking dates [for each of the vineyards around the Cape] are around the same time. So, there's three weeks less hang time that affects early ripening more than late-ripening grapes because the acid breaks down much quicker and can end up with 0.75% more alcohol unless you have no acid left. Potassium take-up in grapes is much greater, so since 2015, we have started de-stemming a lot more [since the stems hold potassium that reduces acidity]. Our major consideration is to be able to plant new varieties, and so we are interplanting around 15% of the area with varieties that have higher acid retention, such as Colombard, Petit Manseng and Grillo.” There is no point in analyzing every wine, as my euphoric tasting notes express how impressive his 2023 is. But I must mention the second vintage of his Chenin Blanc, the 2023 Rotsbank, which sent tingles down my spine with its nascent energy and complexity. Also, his white blend Palladius, the 2022 vintage, is the wine that Eben said he had always wanted to make and certainly the best that I have tasted. 95 Monica Larner - robertparker.com (Juni 2025) Named after the South African quiver tree that looks like a giant succulent from a Jurassic age, The Sadie Family's 2023 Citrusdal Mountain Old Vine Series Kokerboom is a blend of Semillon Blanc and the pink-hued Semillon Gris from vines dating back to the first half of the 1900s. This wine, as you would expect, has a weighty feel, lots of volume and a viscous texture, but it stops short of feeling too heavy or cloying. Fruit ripens easily in this location given the high solar radiation. In fact, there is a lot of energy here, despite the waxy sensations and the unruly intensity that comes forth as petroleum jelly, honey, saffron and apricot. It ages in an old foudre for 12 months, like most of the whites in this portfolio, and grapes come from a site with weathered Table Mountain sandstone and a high iron content. Given the remote location of this vineyard, it takes four hours to drive the harvested grapes back to the winery. When they arrive in the evening, they are put into a cold room for the night. Production is around 4,000 bottles, and the wine was first produced in 2009. Drink 2025-2040. Founded in 1999 by Eben Sadie, The Sadie Family estate in the Swartland is celebrated across the world for its commitment to terroir-driven wines made with minimal intervention. Eben Sadie is a pioneer in organic and biodynamic farming across different soils, including granite, slate, alluvial and weathered sandstone. "The geological pull is what brought me here," says Eben Sadie, who works with 38 varieties (experimental and non) across 54 vineyard sites. I visited The Sadie Family twice last year. On my first visit in January, a large off-the-grid winery was under the last phase of construction. On my second visit in October, I saw the finished results. The two flagship wines are the red blend Columella and the white blend Palladius. The portfolio includes world-class expressions (with some of the best Chenin Blanc made anywhere) in the Old Vine Series. Eben Sadie does not care for trellised vines. "We need to scale away from the sun, not toward it," he says. The goblet system is the world's oldest training system, going back 7,000 or 8,000 years, he explains, and suddenly trellising was introduced a mere 140 years ago. Vertical shoot positioning (or VSP) attracts more solar radiation, he says. The Sadie Family is a Robert Parker Wine Advocate Green Emblem recipient (since 2021) for its commitment to sustainability and its environmental stewardship. The winemaking formula usually sees 35% whole-bunch fruit and 65% destemmed fruit. Aging is always in old foudre, with the youngest wood being eight years old. Fermentations are executed with extreme care. "We used to make wine like coffee, now we make it like tea," says Eben Sadie. EBEN SADIE 2023 Kokerboom displays the typical waxy, lanolin characters often associated with Semillon. For the second year running, we had very little rain in the Citrusdal Mountains, and the vineyard was in a stressful environment throughout the growing season.We opted again to pick the vineyard slightly earlier than what we naturally would be inclined to, and the wine still yielded 13,8% alcohol; notwithstanding its fresh appearance, it is mammoth wine.The tannins, acidity, overall texture, and volume in the wine are incredible, and we are in awe of the power of this terroir. 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. 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. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||