Few white wines produced in South Africa evoke as much emotion and mystery as the Sadie Family Wines maiden release Old Vine Series Mrs Kirsten 2006 Chenin Blanc, made from the oldest surviving Chenin Blanc vineyard still in the ground in South Africa, located in the Jonkershoek Valley in Stellenbosch.

The story of how this very special Sadie wine joined the range is best explained by the man himself, Eben Sadie…

”One day I was visiting a friend of mine in Stellenbosch, Carlo Suter, who is a farmer, oenologist and cabinet maker. And also someone practising bio – dynamic viticulture. During the visit we went for a walk on the property and we walked past this block of very old and very neglected Chenin Blanc. On asking him about the parcel of vines , he told us that it belonged to a Mrs. Kirsten, aged about 85 and that she was not farming the vines anymore.”

“The reality was a lot of very obvious potential in the parcel, for one, the very fact that the block was older than Mrs. Kirsten… and secondly, it having been planted on a very special site. Then the idea came to mind to approach her and ask if we may lease the vineyard and take care of it. From there onwards, we have been taking very special care of this vineyard, firstly by pruning out all the dead arms of the vines (years of them), and secondly by ploughing the soils and converting the vineyard back to organic farming.”

“Since 2006 we have been producing about 300 bottles annually out of one hectare of vines, which relates back to a very uneconomical 3 hl/ha yield, but the concept of such a project is rather to finance a vineyard in a world driven by profitability and return. It is a vineyard that has given more to us than numbers and has resulted in the production of a uniquely different and individual wine.”

Vinification involves the sorting of each individual berry for the entire production in small “strawberry” cases. The grapes are de-stemmed and fermented on their skins for about two days at low temperatures and then pressed in an old basket press and the juice run off directly into barrel without settling. Natural fermentation continues in tight grained French oak, the oldest barrel at any stage in the cellar being at least 10 years of age, insuring they impart zero oak influence to the taste.

The aging takes place for 12 months on the lees and then the wine was racked. An additional six months of aging on the fine lees took place afterwards. Total time spent in oak was 18 months. Total production for 2006 was a meagre 283 bottles.

Sadie Family Wines Mrs Kirsten Old Vine Chenin Blanc 2006, 13.65% Abv.

1.8g/l RS | 6.2g/l TA | 3.45pH

A beautifully rich old gold, old honey Sauternes-style copper / bronze colour. A slight disconnect between colour and taste, this bottle is in perfect condition with the aromatics tightly concertina’ed, slowly unwinding to reveal aromatics of apricot compote, nutty yellow orchard fruits, nectarine, salted toffee, crystallised ginger, caramelised fig and savoury notes of damp leaves and wet moss. You get a sense that this wine has a lot to offer, with a slow reveal in play. The palate is intricately spicy and pithy with layers of peach stone fruits, quince and savoury notes of mealy warm peach crumble with hints of vanilla pod spice. A beautifully textured wine with fine grained, phenolic, spicy tannins and a cool, pithy, spicy ginger infused yellow fruited length with an enticing salinity on the finish. A fascinating expression of Chenin Blanc and undoubtedly an iconic unicorn wine of note!

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)