Sadie Family T Voetpad 2015
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
A field blend of Semillon Blanc, Semillon Gris, Palomino, Chenin Blanc, and Muscat d’ Alexandrie - they are picked and pressed together, and co-ferment in old wooden casks. Unfined and unfiltered – decanting recommended.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of Semillon Blanc, Semillon Gris, Chenin Blanc, Palomino and Muscat, the 2015 Old Vine Series T Voetpad has a strict, linear bouquet that needed the most encouragement from the glass out of all Eben's 2015s. The palate is beautifully balanced and packed full of flavor: orange rind, bitter lemon, sea salt, lanolin and a touch of hazelnut, fanning out beautifully towards the finish that demonstrates superb vigor. This is a blistering follow-up to the 2014 and two minutes after the wine has departed, you can still feel the mouth tingling with salinity.
-
Wine Spectator
Dried lemon peel, fennel seed and honeysuckle notes give this a high-pitched entry, but the core offers up Jonagold apple and melon fruit while the finish pulls in fresh salted butter and verbena details, imparting remarkable range and length. Chenin Blanc, Sémillon, Palomino and Muscat. Drink now through 2024.
Other Vintages
2016-
Wine
Spectator
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator
The Sadie's two wines, Columella and Palladius, originate in the soils in the Swartland region, which stretches north of Cape Town between Durbanville and Piketberg, inland from the Atlantic Ocean, and centered on the town of Malmesbury. Importantly, the area has a remarkably stable climate, allowing a consistent level of quality each year, in subtly different vintage conditions.
With hundreds of white grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended white wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used in white wine blends, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a variety that creates a soft and full-bodied white wine blend, like Chardonnay, would do well combined with one that is more fragrant and naturally high in acidity. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.
Literally meaning "the black land," Swartland takes its name from the endangered, indigenous "renosterbos" (translating to rhino bush), which used to be plentiful enough to turn the entire landscape a dark color certain during times of year. The district, attracting some of the most adventurous and least interventionist winemakers, excels in robust and full-bodied reds as well as quality fortified wines.