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 | 2023 Pofadder - Sadie Family Wines | € 61,37 (€ 74,26) |
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IN DE PERS 96 Neal Martin - vinous.com (September 2024) The 2023 Pofadder, 100% Cinsault planted in shist, has a floral bouquet: white flowers, rose petals, bright and wild strawberry and cranberry, with a little more minéralité than the Soldaat. The palate is medium-bodied with crunchy red fruit. It's perhaps the most tensile of any Pofadder I tasted, culminating in a linear finish with life-affirming frisson. There is an effortless brilliance about this Pofadder - even better than last ear's offering. 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) The Sadie Family's 2023 Swartland Pofadder brings new perspective onto this grape. Cinsault can be "pretty," says Eben Sadie. However, this wine shows a greater sense of volume and heft. In the 1920s, this was a widely planted variety in South Africa, but it began to slip away with the rise of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. "It's like your brother in jail," says Eben Sadie. "You love it, but you can't talk about it." Today, Cinsault is a protagonist of the South African New Wave thanks to dedicated producers like Eben Sadie. He bottled Cinsault in 2009 and was the first to do so. Today, there are 40-plus producers specialized in the grape. The Pofadder opens to aromas of rose potpourri, iris, botanical garden and something that reminds me of a Turkish spice bazaar. The fruit comes from a very productive site on iron-rich and slate formations, and the trick is to keep yields under control. Not many expressions of the grape have this level of depth and texture. The Sadie Family farms four Cinsault vineyards. "Like a puppy, it's the only grape that barks back," says Eben Sadie. 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 The 2023 Pofadder displays highly complex aromas and is one of the most stylish presentations of Cinsaut we have seen.The overall balance and depth of the wine are just sublime.The complex fruit aromas and earthy aspects carry through to the mouthfeel and taste, which is a more mature style of Cinsaut.The overall balance and crisp acidity make for a long, persisting aftertaste. VINIFICATION | In the late 19th century, and much of the 20th, Cinsault was the workhorse red variety that played an undeclared role in some great red blends. It was an obvious candidate for inclusion in any historical edition of wine, although it poses many challenges in the vineyard as well as in the cellar, including the difficulty of keeping yields down and attaining perfect ripeness, plus its very oxidative character. Simply put: one has to tread very carefully with all aspects of the cultivation and the production of Cinsaut but it does come with great reward if all is in check. We basically fill the concrete tanks whole cluster to about 50% and then destem 50% to get some juice in the tank to have the initiation of fermentation.The fermentation is for about 30 days on the skins and then we press the grapes in an old basket press. AGEING | After pressing the wine is transferred into some 28 year old conical wooden casks that do not impart any wooden flavours and the age and the saturation of the wooden staves also make for a very slow reaction of the resultant wine with oxygen.The wine is left on the lees for 11 months and then racked to another concrete tank for an additional month to settle clean.Two weeks prior to bottling we add 60mg/Litre of sulphur and bottle the wine from the fine lees. NOTES | One of the most fascinating aspects of Cinsaut is the depth of texture and the load of tannin that this big berry grape holds, for as a norm one will expect this level of depth and texture and tannin on the smaller, berries varietals – but Cinsaut is a complete enigma in this regard.The wine may hold massive volumes of bright-red fruit and lifted aromatics; and upon smelling the wine the expectation is that it would be very soft on the pallet – but then firm tannins are met. Swartland Riebeeksrivier / Cinsault or Hermityk / 12 months ageing in old foudre / Iron rich slate formations and decompositions thereof. 28hl/ha / 13,2%vol / 1,5g/l / pH 3,41 / TA 5,8g/l / Total Sulphur 61mg/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. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||