The Sadie Family Wines

The Free Bacchus Story

Some of the vines Eben Sadie works were planted before apartheid — old Chenin Blanc, Sémillon and other historic Cape varieties, on granite and schist, surviving in a patchwork of contracted sites across the Swartland.

Sadie describes his relationship with that land as listening rather than directing, which sounds like a pleasantry until you consider what old vines actually require. They yield very little, they cannot be pushed, and they die if farmed hard. The organic practice across these sites, with full certification confirmed on the most significant parcels, is in his account the same project as the old-vine philosophy: you cannot farm vines this old to their potential while treating the soil as something to consume.

The Old Vine Series exists to keep specific vineyards alive. Built with the viticulturist Rosa Kruger, it was made to find, revive and in several cases rescue parcels that would otherwise have been pulled out.

Columella, a Syrah and old-vine blend, and Palladius, a white field blend from cooler higher sites, have drawn 97 points from Wine Advocate. Between them they established South Africa's claim to making wine of international significance on its own terms rather than as an imitation of France or California.

Sadie is the winemaker most responsible for the Swartland becoming the country's most interesting region, and he has inspired a generation of South African producers. The wines remain the reason that inspiration mattered.