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south
african wine, part 13
Eben Sadie
Sadie
Family, Aprilskloof Rd, Paardeberg
(Postal address: PO Box 1019, Malmesbury 7299)
Tel: 021 869 8349
Fax: 021 869 8101
Email: sadiefamily@mail.com
Eben Sadie started as winemaker with Charles Back,
heading up the newly formed Spice Route venture. He left in 2000 and
has since established a stellar reputation for his Columella and
Palladius wines, which are widely regarded as among the best red and
white wines, respectively, from the Cape.
He’s still only young (33), but has a commanding
sense of authority about him. He speaks, and people listen. A sort of
winemaking guru. I met with him and his wife Maria for a long Friday
night dinner held at the home of Willi and Tania of Scali.
Eben grew up in South Africa making wine for other
people, but felt that the wines always lacked something. He travelled
to Europe and realized that what was missing was tradition. ‘There
is a wheel of terroir’, he explains. ‘There’s history, tradition
and time, as well as other elements, and these three aren’t always
welcome in the world that we are living in today’.
So he left South Africa on a working journey of
discovery that took him through Germany, Austria, Italy, Oregon and
Burgundy. ‘I recognized that in Burgundy people have a heart in
them: they breathe the wine. It is part of how they move’.
On returning to South Africa Eben started Columella on
a shoestring. He made just 17 barrels in his first vintage, 2000,
because he didn’t have the money to invest in it. His goal was to do
something that had a bit of the greatness he’d seen in some European
wines, and he found three vineyards where he thought he could achieve
this.
Eben has quite a European philosophy on wine. ‘I
don’t like the term “winemaker” at all’, he explains. ‘Until
recently it didn’t exist: now we live in a world where we “make”
wines’. Eben continues, ‘to be involved with a great wine is to
remove yourself from the process. In all the “making” the virtue
of terroir is lost’.
When Eben started Columella he knew the wine had to be
a blend. His view is that in cool continental climates single
varieties excel: there’s a dialogue with the environment and a long
time to interpret the vintage. The coast is best for blends, he
maintains, but adds, ‘there are always exceptions: you can never
generalize in wine’.
What’s the Sadie secret? He takes incredible care in
the vineyards. He doesn’t have machines in the cellar: everything is
done by gravity and hand. Wooden open fermenters are used. ‘It’s a
very pure way of producing the wine’.
Sadie Family Columella 2003
Now made from seven vineyards this is a blend of Syrah and Mourvèdre
from a range of soil types. The intense, dark, smooth spicy nose has
sweet, seamless pure fruit and lovely balance and complexity. The
palate is dark and quite tannic with spicy red and black fruits and a
rich, chocolatey character. It’s very well structured with lovely
purity and integrated oak. A stunning wine. Excellent 96/100
Sadie Family Palladius 2004
‘I said I would never produce a white wine’, says Eben. ‘I
like continental white wines such as Riesling and Grüner
Veltliner.’ He changed his mind and started growing Viognier,
‘but the problem with Viognier is that in mediterranean climates it
turns into jet fuel’. The he started working with Lammershoek’s
white vineyards, and blended Chenin Blanc and a
bit of Grenache Blanc in with the Viognier. The result is a great
success, with the grapefruit and acidity of the Chenin complementing
the rich spiciness of Viognier. It has a wonderfully rich nose
that’s perfumed and spicy, with herby, melony fruit. There’s a bit
of jasmine here. The palate is dense and rich with lovely open fruit
and good acidity. 18 months in wood (500 litre barrels) adds
toastiness and spiciness. ‘South Africa has a great library of old
white vineyards because of its distilling history’, says Eben. This
is a fantastic wine. Excellent 95/100
Eben also has some interesting things to say about
South Africa as a wine-producing country. ‘South Africa is 300 km
too far North’, he suggests. ‘If we could move it 300 km South, it
would solve a lot of our problems. Moving it 400 km would do fantastic
things.’ He’s also critcal of many of the soils found in the Cape.
‘South Africa’s soils are too old. The younger the soil the better
for wine. This part [Paardeberg] is the area where the soils are
youngest and poorest.’
Sadie Family Sequillo 2003 Swartland
A blend of Syrah (63%), Mourvèdre (30%) and Grenache (7%).
‘Columella is expensive’, says Eben. ‘This is a Monday–Friday
wine’. It has a sweet, quite elegant nose of red fruits with a
herby, subtly green edge. The palate is supple and fresh with some
tannic structure under the attractive, green-tinged fruit. A well
proportioned wine with a bit of spiciness. Delicious stuff. Very
good/excellent 92/100
Availability in the UK: Berry Bros & Rudd (imported by Fields,
Morris & Verdin)
Wines tasted 12/05
Find
these wines with wine-searcher.com
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