Ambitious and succesful: Vergelegen White and Sadie Family Palladius

Surely no wines better display modern Cape winemaking at its most ambitious and successful than do these two. Not to mention the wide range of that ambition and success: it would be difficult to imagine two wines more different than Vergelegen White and Sadie Family Palladius – exploding the uninspiring-sounding category “white blends” supposedly containing them both.

 

When all the vintages of the two wines made so far were lined up one autumn afternoon at the Vergelegen winery in Stellenbosch, it was less a competitive confrontation than a fascinating exploration and celebration of white wine diversity.

First up, Vergelegen: a polished, elegant wine from terraced vineyards on the comparatively cool Schaapenberg slopes in Stellenbosch, a blend of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc drawing on the grand traditions of Bordeaux. The maiden 2001 had 80% Sauvignon, to give the upfront fruit that André van Rensburg then wanted, but subsequent vintages have essentially reversed the varietal proportions, as he came to seek the complexity of longevity rather than immediate gratification. Not that the 2001 has not matured well – it has, and is still vital, with the green pea tang of developed Sauvignon. But later vintages are more sophisticated and complex, without that touch of obviousness, of rusticity.

By 2003, Van Rensburg had reduced the oaking regime to about half new wood, for some 10 months before the component wines were blended. No acidification, no malolactic fermentation, just “a tiny fining with isinglass”, and filtration. That outstanding vintage produced an excellent wine, with richness, precision and liveliness, its herbal, Sauvignon-esque notes complementing passionfruit, citrus and a savoury, mineral core. Harmonious already, it should still be splendid in, say, 2015.

Younger vintages tasted showed how these wines need patience. The 2006 was in a frankly puzzling stage, very tight and shy, though its lingering forcefulness was promising. Also youthful and reserved, the 2007 was more lavish: all the components of a good long future are there – intensity, a brilliant acid core, a touch of tannin, that minerality speaking of cool flavour and freshness without overt fruitiness.

If Vergelegen White is establishing a history that can be usefully invoked and consulted when tasting young vintages, I wonder when we’ll be able to say that equally about Palladius.

Locally, this style (a white Cape Blend?) was largely invented by Eben Sadie, on the basis of precisely local conditions. It remains very much a work in progress, and Sadie speaks with both passion and detachment about the past when Viognier seemed so impressive (now its overt aroma and power is something he must beat into submission with oxidation), and about the future when varieties as yet unplanted will play a role.

A role, that is, in expressing Sadie’s beloved Swartland, especially the Perdeberg, the lowering grantic mountain on which five scattered, scrupulously viticultured hectares of dryland bushvines give absurdly scanty yields for Palladius. Old-vine Chenin (the mountain’s gnarled treasure) is the basis of the wine, along with, for now, Viognier, Chardonnay, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne and, more recently, some old Clairette.

Each year since the maiden 2002, effort in vineyard rather than cellar has reduced the levels of residual sugar (now imperceptible) and alcohol. The acid, mineral focus of the wines is from the grapes alone. Unlike with the Vergelegen, yeasts are not inoculated and there is no fining or filtration. Oaking is for 18 months, in about one-third new barrels.

All the wines have real complexity. Let the 2006 represent them, with Perdeberg lavender and dry grass in the youthful fragrance, with citrus and spice, and a little flower and peach. More focused, drier, and less broadly powerful than earlier vintages, but still with rich, ripe warm-country generosity, and a fine texture. The good balance should ensure a long future, integrating the oak and making the youthful loveliness more complex harmonious.

Two roads diverge in the Cape winelands; we can be glad that both can be travelled.