The Sadie Family Wines 'Treinspoor' 2021

“I don’t like the term ‘winemaker’ at all – in the ‘making’, the virtue of terroir is lost”. After working overseas and then for Charles Back’s Spice Route, Eben Sadie launched the Sadie Family project in 1999, quickly acquiring a reputation as one of South Africa’s most dedicated farmers and a pioneer of characterful, single-plot wines.

Instrumental in putting Swartland on the map, Eben has become known for his flagship red and white blends – Columella and Palladius – and his eye-opening Old Vine Series, which revitalise ancient sites of bush vine Mediterranean varieties across the Cape. Energetic, elegant, expressive, and approachable, these are wines that show their true greatness with age.

Originally brought to South Africa from Portugal to make a fortified, Port-style wine, Tinta Barocco thrives in the Mediterranean climate here and is increasingly used to make red wine in its own right. Eben likens this to a blend of Syrah and Nebbiolo. An earthy, spicy wine that requires a good amount of time in bottle to fully soften and open up its layers of dustry redcurrant and plum fruit, vanilla and cloves, liquorice and lavender. Fresh and graphite-tinged. Drink to 2032+.