Eben
Sadie: Sadie Family Wines and Sequillo Cellars
One of South Africa's leading winegrowers; South Africa revisited
part 4
I’ve
written about Eben Sadie before on wineanorak.com. He’s one of
South Africa’s most interesting and competent winemakers, and so I
was delighted to have a chance to catch up with him again on a visit
to the Swartland region, his home patch.
Eben's
Columella is one of South Africa's very best wines, if not the best.
He has just completed the 10th vintage of this wine. Also under the
Sadie Family Wines label is a white partner, Palladius, which is
also superb. Eben also makes white and red under the Sequillo label
(www.sequillo.com), which is
effectively his negociant operation.
Eben
says that the two wineries, Sequillo and Sadie Family Wines, are now
completely separate. 'Initially it was logistics and capital that
kept them together,' he says. 'The essence is still on blends and
farming – getting the DNA of the grapes.' He has also been moving
away from new small wood to bigger format containers: big old oval
casks and concrete.
'Cabernet
family grapes do really well in small barrels,' Eben maintains. 'All
varieties with certain tannins need a rapid evolution in order to be
bottled at 18 months, but it has become clear that mediterranean
varieties are completely different: they already have advanced
tannins and more fragile fruit.' This move has proved to be a
massive logistics exercise. He is getting big oak from Austria, and
buys one or two large barrels a year. As for barriques: 'The oak
business is an industry; it doesn't exist any more as it was. French
oak is dead now.'
'Syrah
is the modern mediterranean grape variety,' says Eben. 'Everyone
understands it, and it always delivers to expectations, like Nero
d'Avola or Touriga Nacional. Syrah has the ability to communicate
soil differences well.' He compares it with Cabernet, which always
keeps its identity.
Palladius
2008
A blend of several white varities, 30% fermented in concrete
eggs, 70% in old 500 litre barrels. Deep yellow colour. Lovely
fresh, intense nutty and lemony notes with some herbiness. Quite
complex. A beautiful white wine with lovely freshness, intensity and
complexity. 94/100
Sequillo
(white) 2008
60% Chenin Blanc, 20% Grenache Blanc, 10% Viognier, 10% Rousanne.
A deep yellow colour, this has a lovely perfumed nose that is herby
and mineral with sweet fruit. The palate is intense with notes of
herbs and straw as well as a mineral edge to the plump, complex
fruit. Nuts, toast, honey and herbs present. Lovely. 93/100
Sequillo
(red) 2006
A blend of Syrah, Mourvedre and Grenache Noir (newer vintages
have Cinsault and Carignan too). Lovely. Fresh and focused with nice
purity of cherry and berry fruit as well as subtle meatiness. The
palate is pure and savoury with spicy structure. Precise and focused
with real complexity and lovely savouriness. 92/100
Columella
2007
'I don't want to make powerful wines,' says Eben. 'I want to
make elegant wines, but this wine is different because of vintage
conditions.' A blend of 80% Syrah with 20% Mourvedre. Amazing,
brooding, taut spicy mineral dark fruits nose. Intense with some
floral notes. The palate is amazingly intense with fresh dark fruits
and vivid structure and acidity. Spicy, dense and quite robust with
huge structure. This needs lots of time. It's taut, dense, spicy and
structured. 96/100
For
a more recent article on Eben's wines, see Columella
Vertical Tasting with Eben Sadie (2012)
SOUTH
AFRICA REVISITED
Part
1, Tulbagh Mountain
Vineyards
Part 2, Cape
Point Vineyards
Part 3, AA
Badenhorst Family Wines
Part 4, Eben
Sadie: Sadie Family Wines and Sequillo Cellars
Part 5, Paul
Kretzel of Lammershoek
Part 6, Mullineux
Family Wines
Part 7, Vondeling
Part 8, Scali
Part 9, Sterhuis
See
also:
Visiting
South Africa's wine lands (a series based on a trip in December
2005)
Wines
tasted 11/09
Find these wines with wine-searcher.com
Back
to top
|