South Africa

Appealing stone fruit and citrus - grapefruit and oranges - whiffs on the nose. The palate is bright, vibrant and fresh with vivid grapefuit and nectarine flavours. There is a gentle suggestion of marmalade with a lees element adding extra fullness to the mouth. Lovely tang of acidity, which is not overplayed. Light to medium bodied with good length, the wine is unfussy and approachable but with a long finish.

{***}{region}South Africa{region}
{color} White{color}                                                               {maturity}drink-now{maturity} {maturity-text}Drink now{maturity-text}
{vintage}2018{vintage}{***}

Dark berry fruit, spice and brush of tobacco on the nose. Richly fruited palate - with cassis, black berries and plum to the fore. The tobacco and spice notes of the nose are also apparent, along with deep fruitcake flavours and hints of licorice. Gentle grip and backbone make for a beautifully supple, soft-textured wine but with good intensity, body and structure. Supple and generous with a deliciously long aftertaste.

{***}{region}South Africa{region}
{color} Red{color}                                                               {maturity}drink-now{maturity} {maturity-text}Drink now{maturity-text}
{vintage}2018{vintage}{***}

These grapes are specially selected from the Groenekloof ward in the Darling area. This area is unique for its warm days and cool nights. This, together with the deep red soils shows up beautifully in the wine as a mix between dark and red fruit flavours, good concentration and a soft juicy tannin structure. A pleasant bouquet of black cherry, plum and smoky charcuterie with highlights of pepper and spice. More of the same can be found on the palate which is big, broad and well structured. It is a muscular wine with a commanding presence, though restrained and silky. Lovely gentle fruited finish with a rich cocoa aftertaste.

{***}{region}South Africa{region}
{color} Red{color}                                                               {maturity}drink-now{maturity} {maturity-text}Drink now{maturity-text}
{vintage}2018{vintage}{***}

This seductive blend of Southern Rhône varieties has a perfumed nose of violets, spice and purple fruit. The medium to full bodied, food-friendly palate is finely textured with firm but approachable tannins and a fresh, lingering finish. Best served at 16 to 18 °C.

{***}{region}Swartland{region}
{color}Red{color}                                                               {maturity}drink-now{maturity} {maturity-text}Drink now{maturity-text}
{vintage}2017{vintage}
{ratings}
  [] 4/5 Stars Platter{ratings}{***}

This perfumed Syrah has notes of spicy citrus rind, refined black fruit, violets and lilies. The palate is elegant and restrained yet with good body and a silky texture balanced by a fresh, natural acidity. The finish is long with supple tannins. Best served at 16 to 18 °C, this wine will greatly benefit from decanting if drunk within the first 3 to 5 years after bottling.

{***}
{region}Swartland{region}
{color}Red{color}
{maturity}ready-improve{maturity}
{maturity-text}Ready, but will improve{maturity-text}
{vintage}2016{vintage}
{ratings}                                                                                                               []2016 – 4.5 Stars Platter
[]Tim Atkin:: 93/100
{ratings}
{***}

This medium to full bodied wine has aromas of bergamot, tobacco and dark fruits. The palate is structured, with firm, grainy tannins, spices and herbs, and fresh dark fruits. The finish is dry, layered and long. Best served at 16-18°C, this wine will greatly benefit from decanting if drunk within the first 3 to 5 years after bottling and will reward if cellared properly over the next few decades.

{***}{region}Western Cape{region}
{color}Red{color}                                                               {maturity}ready-keep{maturity}
{maturity-text}Ready, but will keep{maturity-text}
{vintage}2015{vintage}
{ratings}
   [] James Suckling:: 94/100
   [] Wine Advocate:: 92/100
   [] Vinous:: 91/100{ratings}{***}

This medium to full bodied wine has aromas of bergamot, tobacco and dark fruits. The palate is structured, with firm, grainy tannins, spices and herbs, and fresh dark fruits. The finish is dry, layered and long. Best served at 16-18°C, this wine will greatly benefit from decanting if drunk within the first 3 to 5 years after bottling and will reward if cellared properly over the next few decades.

{***}{region}Western Cape{region}
{color}Red{color}                                                               {maturity}ready-improve{maturity} {maturity-text}Ready, but will improve{maturity-text}
{vintage}2015{vintage}
{ratings}
  [] 4.5/5 Stars Platter
  [] Tim Atkin:: 94/100{ratings}
{***}

This is beautifully perfumed Syrah, with hints of dark bramble fruit, black pepper spice and herbs. Hints of leather and earthiness emerge on the nose and full-bodied, but refined palate. The tannins are taut in form, but smooth and velvety in texture and a natural acidity brings added balance. The finish is fresh, long and concentrated. Drink 2019-2030.

{***}{region}Swartland{region}
{color}Red{color}                                                               {maturity}ready-improve{maturity} {maturity-text}Ready, but will improve{maturity-text}
{vintage}2015{vintage}
{ratings}
  [] 4.5/5 Stars Platter
  [] Wine Spectator:: 93/100
  [] Tim Atkin:: 96/100{ratings}{***}

This is the most structured Syrah in their Single Terroir range. On the nose there are notes of black pepper, black fruit and spices. The palate is full-bodied with a meaty, savoury character, plenty silky tannins giving structure and a balancing natural acidity. The finish is fresh, long and supple. Best served at 16 to 18 °C, this wine will greatly benefit from decanting when drunk within the first 3 to 5 years after bottling.

{***}{region}Swartland{region}
{color}Red{color}                                                               {maturity}ready-improve{maturity} {maturity-text}Ready, but will improve{maturity-text}
{vintage}2015{vintage}
{ratings}
  [] 4.5/5 Stars Platter
  [] Wine Spectator:: 92/100
  [] Tim Atkin:: 95/100{ratings}{***}

This violet-perfumed Syrah is the most elegant of our single-terroir Syrahs. The palate is medium to full bodied and delicately spicy, with a silky texture balanced by a fresh, natural acidity. There are notes of black pepper, violets and lilies, red berries and herbs. Best served at 16 to 18 °C, this wine will greatly benefit from decanting if drunk within the first 3 to 5 years after bottling.

{***}
{region}Swartland{region}
{color}Red{color}                                                               {maturity}ready-improve{maturity} {maturity-text}Ready, but will improve{maturity-text}
{vintage}2015{vintage}
{ratings}
   [] 4.5/5 Stars Platter
  [] Wine Spectator:: 92/100{ratings}{***}

Deep golden straw in colour, with a rich, viscous appearance. The nose and palate is a complex, enticing blend of dried peaches, apricots and marmalade, with savoury, nutty aromas of almonds, marzipan and honey. The intense mouth-feel is balanced by a clean, fresh and very long finish of dried apricots. The wine is best served chilled at 9 to 11 °C.

{***}
{region}Swartland{region}
{color}White{color}                                                               {maturity}ready-improve{maturity} {maturity-text}Ready, but will improve{maturity-text}
{vintage}2017{vintage}
{ratings}
   [] 5/5 Stars Platter
  [] Platter's "Straw Wine of the Year"
  [] Tim Atkin:: 96/100{ratings}{***}

This Columella has a much deeper colour and concentration and is still very compact and in need of obvious ageing, but it is already showing great complexity in that the aromatics are not a singular line, but the coming together of many aspects. The aromas are a combination of bright fresh red fruits which then pass over to the riper black stone fruit. The wine is also very earthy and seems to live on a bed of freshly ploughed earth – and then there is the appearance of much darker graphite aromatics as well. The texture is still super compact and needs time: it is the result of 12 months ageing in barrels (8% new) and thereafter an additional 12 months in old, big oval casks. We bottle directly from the cask and the philosophy is to have minimum impact on the character of the grapes and rather just have the fruit express itself.

{***}
{region}Swartland{region}
{color}Red{color}                                                               {maturity}ready-improve{maturity} {maturity-text}Ready, but will improve{maturity-text}
{vintage}2016{vintage}
{ratings}
   [] Wine Spectator:: 94/100
  [] Vinous:: 93/100{ratings}{***}

This 2017 Columella is the first of ‘the drought years’ to be bottled and this very wine stands as evidence of the great stability to be achieved in a region with multiple varieties and vineyards planted in diverse sites. It shows that the greatest and most stable quality is to be achieved by a selection of vineyards rather than just one. The expression of a singular site has its place, but there is simply no better strategy than the combination of a bigger variety of terroirs to build up the most stable representation of our region. This wine is the result of 12 months ageing in barrels (8% new) and thereafter an additional 12 months in old, big oval casks. This 2017 vintage has incredible tension and density and is very much ‘locked in’. The firmness of the wine suggests that it is a great keeper. It does exhibit amazing herbal, spicy and perfumed aromas and there is more than enough fruit – but it is a highly-strung wine that needs time. The tannins are fine, powdery and almost silky with a slightly lower acidity and more expanded palate than the 2014 and 2016. The wine is super-tight and will require at least 2 hours of decantation if opened prior to 5 years of age in the bottle. 

{***}
{region}Swartland{region}
{color}Red{color}                                                               {maturity}ready-improve{maturity} {maturity-text}Ready, but will improve{maturity-text}
{vintage}2017{vintage}
{***}

This 2016 vintage of Palladius has the simplicity of minimalistic design with nothing that shouts out and every one of the 11 varietals that drive this wine just seems to be in perfect synchronization. The aromas are a journey of more tropical, ripe fruit aspects going all the way to a very saline and mineral texture. The most exciting aspect of this 2016 vintage is simply the length and the persistence of the tannin on the palate. This wine spends its first year of ageing in clay amphorae and in concrete eggs and then an additional year of ageing of the final blend in big oak casks. The result is incredible stability and the wine leaves one with the clear impression that the Palladius is on the very same level as the Columella and they can truly run together as Signatures.

{***}
{region}Swartland{region}
{color}White{color}                                                               {maturity}ready-improve{maturity} {maturity-text}Ready, but will improve{maturity-text}
{vintage}2016{vintage}
{ratings}
   [] Neil Martin:: 93/100{ratings}{***}

Palladius 2017 displays the magnitude of layers that is to be expected from a blend of 11 varietals across 17 vineyards, but unlike the previous two vintages there are more fresh fruit flavours and the stone fruit and peach skin aromas almost suggest a cooler vintage… this is in part the result of us picking slightly earlier than usual to try and save plant reserves for the vines to deal with the drought. This wine normally has more tropical aromas, but this year there is none of that to be found. Some white cassis and green apple skin make up a very restrained version with salty, mineral and slight honey and lime undertones. 

{***}
{region}Swartland{region}
{color}White{color}                                                               {maturity}ready-improve{maturity} {maturity-text}Ready, but will improve{maturity-text}
{vintage}2017{vintage}
{***}

Eben Sadie started his winemaking career working for Charles Back’s Spice Route-labelled wines before breaking out on his own in 1999. He has acquired a reputation as the most innovative and inspired winemaker in South Africa with his goal to produce an expression of a region or specific site. 

The Old Vine Series (Die Ouwingerdreeks) is the fruition of a project very close to Eben’s heart. These highly sought-after wines are produced in very limited volumes and offer an incredible vinous insight into South Africa’s grape growing and winemaking history. 

Each case contains one bottle of each of below:
2018 The Sadie Family Wines Pofadder, Ouwingerdreeks, Old Vines Series
The 2018 Pofadder in Eben Sadie’s Cinsault from Swartland. This is complex and intellectual, yet utterly compelling, with beautifully detailed brambly red berry fruit, fennel, thyme and fynbos scents that blossom with aeration. The very detailed palate displays filigreed tannins, incredible focus and arresting purity through to the lightly spiced finish. This is one of the best from Sadie this vintage. - 96 pts Neal Martin, Vinous 

2017 The Sadie Family Wines Treinspoor, Ouwingerdreeks, Old Vines Series
The 2017 Treinspoor is pure Tinta Barocca, which Eben opined is the most exciting grape at the moment, matured for one year in foudres. It has a very well defined bouquet, almost Barolo-like, with touches of dried flowers and rose petal. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin and wonderfully balanced, creating real tension from start to finish and featuring touches of bay leaf and tea leaf toward the poised but sustained finish. Superb.- 93 pts Neal Martin, Vinous 

2018 The Sadie Family Wines Soldaat, Ouwingerdreeks, Old Vines Series
The 2018 Soldaat is pure Grenache Noir from Piekenierskloof. It offers earthy red berry fruit on the nose, touches of wild heather and fynbos emerging with time and lending wonderful complexity. The palate is well balanced with a fleshy opening. There are layers of vibrant red cherry and strawberry fruit laced with white pepper and sage toward the persistent finish. Yet there is an approachability to this Soldaat that means it will be difficult to resist in its youth. - 95 pts Neal Martin, Vinous 

2018 The Sadie Family Wines Skerpioen Ouwingerdreeks, Old Vines Series
Fresh and zippy, the 2018 Old Vine Series Skerpioen opens with citrus and in a shy way. The palate moves more citrus-driven with a soft salinity that is very pleasing on the mid-palate, showing a focused and clean expression with a mineral backbone that I find in the range of Sadie Family wines. The finish is pure and structured and begs for fresh seafood and shellfish. Medium-bodied with lively acidity, this is serious wine made from a blend of Chenin Blanc and Palomino that is simply delicious! Stellar! - 92+ points, The Wine Advocate

2018 The Sadie Family Wines 'T Voetpad' Ouwingerdreeks, Old Vines Series
The 2018 T'Voetpad has a perfumed bouquet of nectarine, jasmine and wet wool, nicely defined but requiring a little encouragement from the glass. The palate is fresh and vibrant on the entry, offering orange peel and marmalade notes, a tang of lemongrass and a bright, effervescent finish that lingers in the mouth. Delightful.- 93 pts Neal Martin, Vinous 

2018 The Sadie Family Wines Mrs Kirsten, Ouwingerdreeks, Old Vines Series
The 2018 Mev. Kirsten has a seductive bouquet of dried honey, mirabelle, orange blossom and light fennel aromas. The palate is fresh and saline on the entry, with a sense of energy and vivid animation. The marmalade and quince-tinged finish leaves the tongue tingling with glee. This continues to be one of Sadie's most compelling labels. - 97 pts Neal Martin, Vinous