2023 Skerpioen
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Tasting notes
The Sadie Family's 2023 Swartland Old Vine Series Skerpioen is Chenin Blanc and Palomino planted together on white limestone soils with a sandy top layer. The Chenin Blanc is picked on the underripe side, and the Palomino is picked ripe and golden yellow in color. "I am site-driven, not variety-driven," says Winemaker Eben Sadie. "My goal is to make the most honest wine from a singular site." I love the intensity of the Skerpioen, which is delivered vertically in terms of the brightness of its aromas and horizontally in terms of the pretty richness of the mouthfeel. There are hints of waxy Meyer lemon, sea salt and a hint of rubber latex. It matures in old acacia and oak foudre for 12 months.
Critic scores
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Neal Martin
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2023 Skerpioen is co-planted Chenin Blanc and Palomino on aeolian sand over limestone. Eben Sadie remarked: "If Mad Max had a vineyard, this would be it." It's a very wind-buffeted five-hectare parcel, planted in 1910, with higgledy-piggledy branches (maybe the first time that's been used in a tasting note). 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.
About the producer
Since he started making wine under his own name in 2000, Eben Sadie became a cult name in South Africa. The Swartland producer is best known for his flagship Columella and Palladius, but he also makes a range of whites and reds under the Old Vine Series, which became the District Series in 2025.