Tasting: Eben Sadie 2024 Release

Eben Sadie is considered one of the great visionaries and preservationists among South African winemakers. He is outspoken about his obsession with terroir and making sure the Swartland region is recognized as a place to make exceptional, authentic and highly coveted wines.

He founded Sadie Family Wines in 1999, after establishing his career in both South Africa and wineries across the world and released his first vintage of Columella in 2000. He was one of the first to focus on creating wines that express their area, or a single vineyard, rather than blending extensively across regions which was unconventional at the time.

This site specificity along with field varietals and older vineyard parcels are the philosophy that drives the production of his two ranges of wines - The Signature Series (Columella and Palladius) and then his Old Vine Series (9 different wines). Columella is a blend of old-vine fruit from eight Swartland vineyards while Palladius is a blend of 11 varieties from 17 different vineyard sites, with old, bush-vine Chenin Blanc driving the cuvée. The Signature Series wines are the result of a project with renowned viticulturist, Rosa Kruger to discover, revitalise, and in some cases, save old vineyards throughout the Cape. These limited volume wines are produced without any additions and without much manipulation. The reds are mostly fermented whole cluster as that was the pre-1940’s vinification standard. The whites are whole bunch pressed. None of the wines are refined or altered as Eben strives to bottle the most “honest” wines that show their true character and location.