2023 Sadie Family Swartland Skerpioen
2023 Sadie Family Swartland Skerpioen

2023 Sadie Family Swartland Skerpioen

Highly Rated
Sadie Family Wines |Swartland |Palomino
A rare and distinctive coastal blend of Palomino and Chenin Blanc from 80-year-old vines, showcasing the saline intensity and unique terroir of Swartland’s sand and limestone soils.
Price:
$165.00
Stock:
Re-stocking, ships in 2-5 business days
Rendering loop-subscriptions

Description

The 2023 Sadie Family Skerpioen is a uniquely compelling Swartland white, blending Palomino and Chenin Blanc from a remote, 80-year-old vineyard just 2 kilometres from the Atlantic. The site, aptly named after its scorpion-inhabited sandy and chalky soils, draws comparisons to the albarizas of Andalucía, making it one of the most distinctive terroirs in the Cape.

This coastal vineyard endures extreme dryness, receiving only 300mm of annual rainfall, which naturally limits yields and concentrates the fruit. The result is an intensely saline and mineral-driven wine that encapsulates its maritime origins. Grapes are hand-picked and co-fermented spontaneously in old wooden casks, crafting a wine of remarkable precision and texture. Eben Sadie notes the 2023 vintage as slightly softer in tannins and acidity compared to previous years, making it approachable earlier, while still retaining its characteristic depth and complexity.

A stunning expression of West Coast terroir, Skerpioen is both rare and highly sought-after, with only a handful of bottles available. Perfectly suited to seafood, especially oysters, this is a must-have for lovers of unique, site-specific wines.

97 points
"An intensely maritime West Coast cuvée with amazing focus, extract, and salinity... lemon zest, rock pools, almond, sourdough, and kelp, with a mouth-watering finish."
- Tim Atkin MW (South Africa Report 2024)

94 points
"Sadie's highest dry extract white... razor-sharp acidity, full of tension and salinity, leading to a divine, linear finish."
- Neal Martin (Vinous)

Swartland. Named after the abundant native scorpions that make their home here, Skerpioen is an unirrigated 2.4-hectare, 80-plus-year-old vineyard planted half to Palomino and half to Chenin Blanc. It’s just two kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean and overlooks Elands Bay. The soils are sandy and chalky, likened by Sadie to the white albarizas of Andalucía. It’s fitting, then, that half the vines are Palomino. This is also one of the coolest parts of Swartland—cool but also extremely dry, with an average rainfall of only about 300mm per year. Pictured above, Eben quips that “if Mad Max had a vineyard, this would be it”. The dryness naturally restricts the yields (the average is only 26 hl/ha) and concentrates the fruit, magnifying the saline intensity.

The grapes are picked and pressed together and co-ferment spontaneously in old wooden casks. The result is always a stunning, complex, unique white. “We suggest rushing off to buy oysters!” Eben says. “In respect to the 2023,” Eben also notes, “the tannins and the acidity are slightly softer than in the last two vintages, and this vintage could be savoured earlier as the balance and mouthfeel are already very balanced.”

97 points - "I've been lucky enough to visit this vineyard, weaving through the sand dunes in a 4x4 to get there, so I know what a special, far flung place it is. Pairing equal amounts of Chenin Blanc and Palomino from rare limestone soils, this is an intensely maritime West Coast cuvée that has amazing focus, extract and salinity, with notes of lemon zest, rock pools, almond, sourdough bread and kelp, very little oak and a mouth-watering finish." - Tim Atkin MW (South Africa Report 2024)

94 points - "This has the highest dry extract of Sadie's whites. It has a fresh and vibrant nose: linseed oil, hints of yellow fruit and sea spray. The palate is founded upon a razor-sharp line of acidity, full of tension and salinity and very linear toward the finish. Divine." - Neal Martin (Vinous)

Sadie Family Wines

One of the tearaway producers of the revitalised Swartland wine scene, Sadie Family Wines has had an astronomical rise to fame on the international stage.

Owner and winemaker, Eben Sadie, first found acclaim under the banner of Terroir Al Limit where he was a co-founder alongside Dominik Huber. In the same way that Terroir Al Limit helped redefine what wine could taste like from Priorat in Spain, Sadie handles his family wines and vines with that same ruthless attention to detail.

These wines perfectly articulate a sense of place. Sadie's transparency in winemaking and obsessive farming practices reveal intense, tightly-wound wines with distinct personality. These are now some of South Africa's most keenly sought-after artisan wines. Worldwide allocations are minuscule and hotly contested. As little as a handful of bottles make it to Australia each year. Secure these rare birds while you can.

Eben Sadie in the vineyard Sadie Family Wines

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