Eben Sadie

Laura Lorenzo and Daterra Viticultores Creating Breath-Taking Wines in the Val do Bibei, North West Spain…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Hailing from Allariz in the province of Ourense, Laura Lorenzo enrolled in the local enology school at the tender age of 16 with definite ambition to become a winemaker. Upon graduation, she worked at the nearby Adega Cachín, and then overseas with Eben Sadie in South Africa and Achaval Ferrer in Argentina. After her various apprenticeships, Laura took over the reins at Dominio do Bibei, a dynamic, pioneering producer of fine wine in the Quiroga-Bibei subzone of Ribeira Sacra.

Laura worked there for 10 years developing an attractive style of winemaking that was fine-tuned and focused on the hillsides of the region, specifically to the terruño around the village of Manzaneda. In 2014 Laura and her partner, chef & artist partner Alvaro Dominguez, branched out on their own and formed Daterra Viticultores to cultivate the mountainside vineyards of the Bibei Valley.

Gavela da Vila is comprised of 100% old vine Palomino organically farmed at a variety of elevations, expositions, and soil types in the Val do Bibei. 90% of the grapes were destemmed, with the must seeing just a few hours of skin contact before pressing.

The wine was fermented with wild yeast in used 225 liter French oak barrels, and then raised on the lees in the same barrels for 6 months. Small amounts of sulfur were added after fermentation and at bottling. The wine was not clarified, cold stabilized or filtered.

Daterra Viticultores Gavela da Vila Palomino 2015, Manzaneda, Val do Bibei, 12.5 Abv.

A bright pale gold straw colour, there are plenty of tell tale signs of the wine’s short skin contact. The nose is rich and very expressive with complex notes of savoury pithy yellow citrus, yellow blossom, hazelnut and walnuts, dried orange peel and the most seductive saline, baked apple, aldehydic and oxidative Sherry-Manzanilla notes. The palate entry is electric and vibrant challenging the palate and provoking thought, but most certainly makes your mouth salivate with a saline briney zest, fresh zippy acids and a delicious spicy oxidative leaning yellow fruited finish laced with baked pears and vermouth spices. A really tantalising effort from an incredible new talent in Spain. Only 1,590 bottles produced. Drink now to 2026+.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

A Wine Of Rarity and Beauty ~ Tasting the Sadie Family Old Vine Series Kokerboom 2015…

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Within the Sadie Old Vine Series range, the Kokerboom white is probably the most enigmatic and mysterious. But in an intense, near perfect vintage like 2015, this wine’s full potential is revealed in all its regal glory. The biggest challenge then becomes actually getting hold of some to drink!


Made from fruit sourced in the Trekpoort Kloof in the Olifants River Region, this old vine vineyard Semillon was planted in the 1930s on decomposed Table Mountain sandstone and includes a mix of both white and red-skinned versions of this grape once very common in the Cape winelands. A pristine old vineyard, no herbicides or artificial fertilizers have been used on it, and it has been perfectly pruned and cared for over the years. The downside is that it is a very small and low-yielding vineyard. 


The white and red Semillon (approximately a 70 / 30 split), ripen at the same time and are picked and pressed together. The juice is taken from the basket press in buckets to an old cask for natural fermentation, and spends around 18 months on its lees before being bottled from the cask unfined and unfiltered, yielding not much more than 150 cases of 6 per vintage. TA 6.4 g/l and RS 1.8 g/l with a 3.00 pH.


Sadie Family Old Vine Series Kokerboom 2015, WO Olifantsrivier, 14 Abv.

The aromatics grow in the glass showing intense lime, white pepper, lemon herbs, lime peel, soap stone and grey slate. A really intriguing mineral melange of dusty stony complexity mixes with notes of boxwood, fynbos, and beechwood spice. The palate is full and expansive and ethereally complex. Flavours are still tightly wound, taught, and require a little coaxing to reveal a tart, briney, saline palate bite, complex citrus zest and deliciously fresh glassy acids and picante mineral cut. So many layers of lemon grass, tangerine peel, pithy green apple and sweet, freshly cut raw fennel develop. Texturally profound and so beautifully balanced, this wine teases the senses giving the drinker a fleeting glimpse of what’s still to come with further bottle age. World class and eye-opening, the Kokerboom 2015 is most certainly right up there with other sought after white icon wines from around the globe.

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

Sadie Family Old Vines Series ‘T Voetpad 2016 ~ South Africa’s Grand Cru of White Blends…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 6 Comments

Every few weeks I get a phone call from an UK journalist looking for commentary for an upcoming piece in one journal / supplement or another. How is the premium South African category faring? What are South Africa’s best USP’s? (unique selling points), What are the most exciting regions or varietals etc? While Chenin Blanc and more latterly, Cinsaut, have become two of South Africa’s trendiest “calling cards”, there is still only one true wine category in South Africa (other than Pinotage perhaps), that remains completely unrivalled in the global world of fine wine… the great Cape White Blend.


There can be few doubts that the Sadie Family Wines Palladius White Blend is one of the best white blends in South Africa at the moment, however, the truth remains that it is the small production, almost unobtainable ‘T Voetpad from the Sadie Old Vine Series that has emerged in the last few years as the most coveted white blend for collectors. An exquisite field blend of Semillon Blanc, Semillon Gris, Palomino, Chenin Blanc and Muscat d’Alexandrie, the name refers to ‘the footpath’ and is one of South Africa’s most remote vineyards, a 1.4 hectare site planted on their own rootstocks between 1900 and 1928, which are picked together and fermented together in old wooden casks.

The Cape White Blend in all its forms remains a very special category because the greatest expressions are not just conjured up creations, they are formidable, thoughtful wines with a sense of confidence, terroir, balance, and delicious synergistic flavours. Varietals you’d expect to be incongruous marry seamlessly and genuinely create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. This synergy factor is the Holy Grail that other international producers have found almost impossible to replicate. The South African wine industry is truly blessed to have this joker in its marketing hand.

Sadie Family Old Vines Series ‘T Voetpad 2016, Swartland, 13.5 Abv.

This eclectic 2016 white blend of Semillon Blanc, Semillon Gris, Chenin Blanc, Palomino and Muscat d’Alexandrie has a wonderfully dusty, aromatic, complex nose of stony, pithy, crunchy yellow pears, pineapple pastille, pear drop bon bons, lemon rind, sea breeze and nutty, piquant nuances. The palate shows such wonderful salty, briney intensity without any heavy, unctuous weight of fruit. Plenty of richness certainly, with a fine grained pithy, grippy texture and impressively fresh acids. I love the purity and inner energy of this wine. The finish is fresh, precise, full of vigour and long, with hints of lemon butter, lanolin, hazelnut and pear skins. This may be the product of a warm, dry, slightly awkward vintage, but the finished results in the bottle are every bit as impressive as the wine’s reputation. Drink now to 2028+

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

“The amazing thing about ‘T Voetpad is the fact that it is our most diverse co-planted vineyard with 5 varieties, but it is usually our most harmonious wine at bottling; something that is nearly impossible to comprehend. Our only explanation is that when vines grow together for more than 100 years, they all become one ‘mind’!” ~ Eben Sadie

The Sadie Family Old Vine Series Treinspoor 2016 from the Swartland Strikes the Grand Jackpot…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 1 Comment

Having just tasted Duncan Savage’s new 2016 Are We There Yet? Touriga Nacional based blend, reinforced again what great potential these “alternative” warm climate varieties have in a future South African wine landscape. While this was Duncan’s first release, Eben Sadie on the other hand is already half a decade into the Treinspoor releases.


Made from 42 year old Tinta Barocca sourced from a vineyard in the Swartland, the 2016 new release appears to have reached a nouveau of quality not seen before for this variety in South Africa. This latest bottling rides on a wave of lifted perfumed perfection, with intense red cherry pastille, parma violets, rose water and sweet jasmine all mingling with seductive, piecing red and black bramble berry fruits. The palate shows a vibrant focus and purity of fruit I don’t recall ever seeing to this degree on this wine before. There are lashings of sweet cherry sherbet bon bons, pink musk sweets, red currant confit , purple nastergal (African nightshade berry), and tart Victoria plums. Wonderful concentration, palate tingling acidity freshness and superb harmonious depth. The ‘poor cousin’ in the Old Vine Series has just hit the jackpot and is riding high. Drink now to 2030+

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

The new Sadie Family Cellar in the Swartland

I guess it makes complete sense then when Eben says he feels that this red grape Tinta Barocca “might well transport the Swartland Terroir best into liquid form, purely because it captures the soils and the earthiness of the place.” 

New mixed plantings at the winery including Grenache, Carignan, Cinsaut, Counnoise, Terret Noir, Alicante Bouchet, Pontac, and Tinta Barocca.

Eben regarded his 2015 as the most refined version ever, but for me, the 2016 I tasted surpasses even this monumental achievement.
Visiting Eden Sadie in March 2017

Tasting The Highly Lauded Skerpioen 2015 Old Vines Series White From Sadie Family Wines… 

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

A warm balmy evening in London with a fish braai in prospect called for an appropriate white wine match. With my sea bass marinating away and my prawn skewers primed for the BBQ, a saline, mineral driven white was called for. 


This beauty from Eben Sadie is a field blend of interplanted Chenin Blanc and Palomino vines. These unirrigated old bush vines were planted between the years 1958 to 1967 in extremely chalky soils in one of the coolest locations in the Swartland. 

Tasting with Eben and Rosa Kruger in March 2017

Of all Eben Sadie’s Old Vine Series wines, the Skerpioen white is perhaps the most intriguing of the lot. Often austere in youth, this wine is so mineral driven and restrained that it often confounds the critics. As Christian Eedes from South Africa’s Wine Magazine comments…. “a perplexing wine…” with a minerality and austerity that is often “mesmerising”. 


Sadie Family Old Vines Series Skerpioen 2015, Swartland, 14 Abv.

Pale straw yellow, this expressive 2015 has a spicy pithy nose of lime peel, lemon grass, dried herbs, liquid minerals and wet chalk. Very grown up and old-worldy. Layer upon layer of granite, crushed gravel and briney sea breeze salinity notes resonate. But there is a white peach, grassy, aromatic, savoury buttery note riding in tandem with the intense liquid minerality. The nose follows to the palate in a very precise, pin point manner. There is plenty of glycerol depth, pithy, dusty phenolic aromatics, and a rasping dry lemon, apple purée and a mineral austerity finish. From start to finish, the palate is electric and fresh with racy acids and remains thoroughly linear and focused. This wine’s greatness is firmly embedded in the philosophy of ‘less is more’.

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

Tasting Eben Sadie’s Old Vine Series Skurfberg 2013 Chenin Blanc…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Last week I visited Eben Sadie’s new winery next to Lammershoek. What an amazingly impressive spot on the Paardeberg. Despite the water shortages and attempted sand mining, the new cellar space (combined with a beautiful homestead on the hill) should all contribute to yet more increases in focus and wine quality.


Sitting in London 2 days later, with spring time weather drawing me into the garden to dust off my BBQ, I felt I had to open one of Eben’s finest, and one of my favourites… the Iconic Skurfberg Old Vine Series.

Dinner with Eben at the Roundstone Farm of Chris and Andrea Mullineux shortly after receiving his Master of Wine Winemakers’ Winemaker Award

Made from unirrigated parcels of old bush vines planted between 1940 and 1955 on decomposed sandstone in the Oliphants River Region, these knarled old vines struggle to survive with only the sparse local rainfall to rely on. But it is precisely this struggle that makes these old vines produce sumptuous grapes that perhaps some bird may eat and then propagate elsewhere… or so the natural selection idea goes.

Tasting Note: Sadie Family Old Vines Skurfberg Chenin Blanc 2013, 13.5 Abv.

Made from pure Chenin Blanc, this wine reaches levels of complexity and intensity normally only white blends from SA can hope to achieve. The nose is dusty and slatey, leaving the fruit nuances to fight through the minerality. Plenty of dry citrus peel, nectarine skins, crunchy white peaches and sweet pear blossom. The palate is taught yet textural, saline, citric and bright. The palate is laden with dusty white citrus, honey suckle, with finely balanced breadth and depth. Tantalising cassis leaf, yellow crab apple and crunchy white peaches dominate a long, vibrant, fresh finish. The 2013 is slightly more overt and fleshy than the taught 2012 I drank with Eben at the Adi Badenhorst Oesaf last week, but still boasts amazing concentration and classism that should allow this wine to age gracefully for 20+ years. An epic expression of Chenin!

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

South African Winemaker Eben Sadie’s Greatness is Recognized Internationally at Prowein…

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The Institute of Masters of Wine and international trade publication The Drinks Business are delighted to announce Eben Sadie as the winner of the 2017 Winemakers’ Winemaker Award.The honour, which has been given annually since 2011, recognises outstanding achievement in the field of winemaking. The winner is chosen each year by Master of Wine Winemakers and previous winners of the award.


Eben was revealed as the Winemakers’ Winemaker at ProWein today, in front of Masters of Wine and industry professionals. On receiving his award Eben said, “It is a major honour to be receiving this award and I would like to dedicate this to the great team of people I have by my side that have helped me over the years to grow closer to a dream. For a great wine is not the work of one.”
Eben graduated from Elsenburg College, Stellenbosch in 1994, and worked various harvests in Germany, Spain, France, United States and South Africa. He ventured out on his own in 2000 to pursue his passion for blends and terroir in his Swartland home. From what Eben describes as a ‘little shack’ in the Paardeberg, he began creating The Sadie Family Wines’ two signature wines – Columella (a red blend of Syrah, Mourvedre, Grenache, Cinsault, Carignan and Tinta barocca) and Palladius (a white blend of Chenin Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne, Semillon, Clairette, Verdellho and others).

After a decade of producing these signature wines the Family released the Old Vine Series, a bottling of eight single vineyard old vine parcels; Skerpioen, Skurfberg, Voetpad, Mev. Kirsten, Kokerboom, Pofadder, Soldaat and Treinspoor.

Jane Masters MW, Chairman of the Institute of Masters of Wine said, “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.”


Eben now joins Peter Sisseck (2011), Peter Gago (2012), Paul Draper (2013), Anne-Claude Leflaive (d) (2014), Egon Muller (2015) and Alvaro Palacios (2016) as winners of the Winemaker’s Winemaker Award. 

Tasting the Profound Sadie Family Old Vine Series Treinspoor 2013 Tinta Barroca… 

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 3 Comments

Eben Sadie is a super intelligent, obsessive winemaker who has always focused on mastering the terroir in his individual vineyards, believing that ultimately, great wine will be easier to make if you pay detailed attention to the farming of your vines. 


The Sadie Family Old Vine Series Treinspoor 2013, named after the railway line that runs alongside the vineyard, is 100% Tinta Barocca from 40+ year old vines. Eben noted that “In 2013 the Treinspoor, with cooler weather, a bit of rain and later ripening just seemed to be a perfect fit to this parcel.” As a result, he succeeded in making one of the best Treinspoor vintages to date.


Tasting Note: With already 4 years age, the colour remains a vibrant bright cherry red with a black plum core. The nose is also still very youthful showing a pronounced cherry sherbet bon bon zesty lift, freshly crushed red currants, fragrant rose petals, strawberry shortbread, and pretty parma violets. There is such wonderful, profound aromatic complexity that has developed in bottle since I first tasted this wine on release in 2014. The palate reveals an incredibly sleek fleshy balance, showing textured layers of mulberry and raspberry fruits, powdery slatey mineral tannins in perfect harmony and fine acids with great definition. After a little more time in the glass, darker, spicy sappy hedgerow notes develop adding to this beautiful wine’s complexity. Incredibly pure in character, this 13 Abv wine is a very special expression of the Swartland.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)


Alternative varieties in South Africa? It’s all Greek to me… 

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

I’ve had a few days to reflect on my profound recent visit to the Greek Cyclades island of Tinos, the T-Oinos winery and their Clos Stegasta vineyard.

Clos Stegasta Assyrtiko vines on granite soils
Assyrtiko made in barrique, amphora and stainless steel

I’ve always known how hot and dry Greece and its islands can be, but what made this visit extra interesting, is that in 2001/2 the winery and their consulting enologist re-examined 1000+ years of Greek viticulture to decide what indigenous varieties would be the most suited to the sites they were looking to plant on.

Assyrtiko used for Clos Stegasta flagship white

For these granitic, sandy soils, they chose Assyrtiko and Malagouzia. For the reds they chose the noble Mavrotragano and Avgoustiatis. So far, with only 4 or 5 proper vintages under their belt, they are finally starting to hone in on a more assured style and direction for both the whites and the reds.

In South Africa, they may have 350 years of winemaking history to reflect on, but all the varieties planted were brought in from the European diaspora and none were indigenous. Trying to replicate Bordeaux, Burgundy or the Rhone in Africa can come with its challenges. 

After about 30+ years of ‘modern’ viticulture in South Africa, and many false starts, growers are finally finding suitable microclimate sites for cooler climate varieties such as Pinot Noir. But it is the recent attention being paid to new, ‘exotic’ varieties that is drawing a lot of interest. Varieties that could protect the future quality of South African wine as the world heats up and water becomes an even scarcer commodity. Sustainability is the word on everybody’s lips.

Luckily in South Africa, there is a lot of freedom and a real sense of not having to stick to a fixed set of rules. Between 2011 and 2015, fifteen new varieties were planted including Nero d’Avola, Gruner Veltliner, Barbarossa and Alicante Bouchet. 

Eben Sadie and Rosa Kruger at the Cape Wine 2015 Terroir Seminar

But for me, it is undoubtedly what Eben Sadie’s been up to that has captured peoples’ imagination. One of South Africa’s foremost experimental winemakers, he has been toying with new varieties like Grillo and Cataratto from warm climate Sicily as well as Assyrtiko, Agiorgitiko, and Xinomavro from Greece. 

Assyrtiko in Tinos, trained in a gobelet style

Indeed, speaking to Eden Sadie at Cape Wine 2015 last September, he reported fantastic results with Assyrtiko whites, a variety that has shown great drought, heat and sunburn resistance abilities. 

Maverick experimenter Eben Sadie

So having just tasted some very impressive reds and whites in Greece, I’m convinced more than ever that Assyrtiko, as well as some of the noble Greek red varieties, could certainly be the next big wine varieties to go mainstream around the world. 

Watch this space… Australian and South African Assyrtiko whites on merchants’ shelves alongside Greek versions from Santorini and perhaps even Tinos!?