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Sadie Family 'Pofadder' Cinsault 2023
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- TASTING NOTE: “The 2023 Pofadder, 100% Cinsault planted in schist, has a floral bouquet: white flowers, rose petals, bright wild strawberry and cranberry, with a little more mineralité than the Soldaat. The palate is medium-bodied with crunchy red fruit. It’s perhaps the most tensile of any Pofadder I’ve tasted, culminating in a linear finish with life-affirming frisson. There is an effortless brilliance about this Pofadder—even better than last year's offering.” 96 Points - Neal Martin, Vinous
- ABOUT THE WINE: Pofadder is pure Cinsault, cropped from a 1973-planted parcel in Riebeeksrivier on the Kasteelberg Mountain (west of Malmesbury). The soils are slate and decomposed shale. Pofadder is Afrikaans for a puff adder, a type of snake in these parts that claimed the life of a vineyard worker in the 1940s. Sadie is a champion of old-vine Cinsault in the Cape, but even he concedes that this is the vineyard and the wine that need the most care. Controlling yields, bunch/berry sorting and protection from oxidation in the cellar are all vital. Roughly 30% whole bunches are placed in an old wooden, open-top fermenter, with one or two gentle foot-stomps each day to release just enough juice to keep the fermentation ticking over. After a month on skins, the grapes are transferred to a tiny basket press and pressed directly to 28-year-old conical wooden casks for aging. The wine is a gloriously textured yet vibrant ode to variety and region. In Eben’s mind, the 2023 is the most stylish example he has released.
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ABOUT THE PRODUCER: Visionary grower-producer Eben Sadie founded the estate in 1999 in South Africa’s Swartland region. Sadie is a regional pioneer in site-specific bottlings. The estate covers 30 hectares of vines across more than 50 plots throughout the surrounding area, covering almost 400 kilometres. Approximately 10 hectares are estate-owned, with the balance not owned but under the viticultural control of the Sadie family. Farming is organic, yields are very low, vine age can reach 100 years old, and all plots are dry-farmed at high elevations on varied soils from granite to chalk to sandstone and clay. Next to no new wood is used, extractions are gentle, and vinification takes place mostly in concrete, with a handful of eggs and large-format wood in play. Varieties include Cinsault, Grenache, Tinta Barocca, Mourvèdre, Carignan, Palomino, Chenin Blanc, Semillon, Grenache Blanc, Clairette Blanche, Viognier, Verdelho, Roussanne, Marsanne, Colombard and Semillon Gris. The range includes the signature Columella and Palladius wines–blends of varieties and sites–and single-site District Series wines. Bibendum
- COUNTRY: South Africa
- REGION: Swartland
- VARIETAL: Cinsault
- WINE STYLE: Red Wine
- WINEMAKER: Eben Sadie
- CLASSIFICATION: Organic Farming
- CLOSURE: Cork
- ABV%: 13%
- SIZE: 750ml
