Sadie Family Wines Palladius 2022
Sadie Family Wines · Sadie Family Wines
One of the Southern Hemisphere's great white wines — a study in restraint that rewards patience with extraordinary depth. Drinkable now with air, but built to evolve for a decade or more.
Nose
Restrained yet layered: bruised yellow apple, quince paste, dried chamomile, fennel pollen, wet river stone, and a whisper of beeswax. Air brings hints of orange peel and lanolin.
Palate
Textural and coiled — the wine unfolds slowly across the palate with taut lines of citrus pith, salted almond, pear skin, and dried herbs. A saline, granitic core runs through the middle, held in check by fine phenolic grip from the concrete-egg and clay-amphora aging.
Finish
Long, mineral, and quietly insistent — hints of chamomile tea, bitter lemon zest, and a stony echo that lingers for a full minute.
- Varietal
- Chenin Blanc (dominant)
- Blend
- Chenin Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Clairette Blanche, Viognier, Verdelho, Roussanne, Marsanne, Semillon Gris, Semillon Blanc, Palomino, Colombard
- Vineyards
- Eleven old-vine parcels across the Swartland including sites on the Paardeberg (granite), Kasteelberg (shale), and Piketberg (sandstone) — many vines 40+ years old, dry-farmed as bush vines.
- Alcohol
- 13.5%
- Organic / Biodynamic
- No
- Skin Contact
- No
Cocktail Suggestion
The Release Valve — This wine is not for cocktails — serve it neat at 52°F in a Burgundy-shaped glass. For a table companion, offer a spritz: 4 oz chilled dry Chenin, 1 oz Cocchi Americano, top with soda, garnished with a wide strip of grapefruit peel.
Food Pairing
Roast chicken with lemon and thyme, grilled langoustines with brown butter, or aged Comté with quince paste.
Eben Sadie assembled Palladius from eleven old-vine parcels scattered across the Swartland's schist, granite, and iron-rich soils, fermenting each separately in clay amphorae and concrete eggs before a full year of unhurried élevage on the lees.
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