Sadie Family Kokerboom 2024
Sadie Family Kokerboom 2024
Regular price
$9499
$94.99
/
96 pts The Wine Advocate
Drink Date: 2026 - 2040
Made with Semillion Blanc and Gris, The Sadie Family 2024 Citrusdal Mountain Die Distriksreeks Kokerboom is richly textured yet strikingly fresh, offering waxy lanolin and beeswax with honeyed depth over a multidimensional core. "Properly ripe rather than green," as proprietor Eben Sadie proclaims, the wine shows the distinctive complexity and subtle saffron-like nuances that has made this rare old-vine Semillon so coveted among serious collectors. Sourced from ancient vines rooted in quartzitic sandstone in the remote Citrusdal Mountain ward, the wine reflects the extreme site and the historical decline of old Semillon plantings in South Africa. (In the late 19th century, this grape counted for as much as 90% of the nation's plantings.) Eben Sadie has repositioned The Sadie Family’s former “Old Vine Series” under the new "Die Distriksreeks" (The District Series), shifting the focus from vine age to a clearer expression of place and viticulture. While the historic old vineyards remain central, Eben Sadie has increasingly emphasized farming precision and site identity over cellar technique. The evolving range—now including two new bottlings, the Twiswind white and Sonvang red—reflects his long-term ambition to formulate an "African" wine aesthetic. Published: Feb 26, 2026
Made with Semillion Blanc and Gris, The Sadie Family 2024 Citrusdal Mountain Die Distriksreeks Kokerboom is richly textured yet strikingly fresh, offering waxy lanolin and beeswax with honeyed depth over a multidimensional core. "Properly ripe rather than green," as proprietor Eben Sadie proclaims, the wine shows the distinctive complexity and subtle saffron-like nuances that has made this rare old-vine Semillon so coveted among serious collectors. Sourced from ancient vines rooted in quartzitic sandstone in the remote Citrusdal Mountain ward, the wine reflects the extreme site and the historical decline of old Semillon plantings in South Africa. (In the late 19th century, this grape counted for as much as 90% of the nation's plantings.) Eben Sadie has repositioned The Sadie Family’s former “Old Vine Series” under the new "Die Distriksreeks" (The District Series), shifting the focus from vine age to a clearer expression of place and viticulture. While the historic old vineyards remain central, Eben Sadie has increasingly emphasized farming precision and site identity over cellar technique. The evolving range—now including two new bottlings, the Twiswind white and Sonvang red—reflects his long-term ambition to formulate an "African" wine aesthetic. Published: Feb 26, 2026
Produced from a high-altitude vineyard in the Citrusdal Mountains, Kokerboom is made from Semillon, including both white and red-skinned clones co-harvested and pressed together. The 2024 vintage is whole-bunch pressed and fermented slowly in old foudre, with malolactic fermentation often completing the following spring. This year’s wine displays classic waxy and lanolin notes, accented by ginger spice and granadilla. The texture is voluminous yet refined, and the overall expression is notably fresh and precise.
Winemaking: The grapes are picked in the Citrusdal Mountains and it does require a major load of logistics to get the grapes down to the winery: the journey to the vineyard takes about 4 and a half hours so we only return to the cellar at the end of the day and then place the grapes in our cool room (at 4 degrees) for the night. The next day the grapes are sorted and the whole bunches go into the press. The pressing lasts 3 hours and in that period a margin of settling of the juice takes place in the collecting tank. The turbid juice is then transferred to one of our old foudres for fermentation. The juice composition of the Kokerboom vineyard is usually very low in natural nitrogen and yeast nutrients and the fermentation takes about 10 days to start and normally equires 6 - 8 months to complete, which often brings us to the following spring. By then the malolactic fermentation would usually have come to completion as well. The wine is left in cask for the entire first 12 months on the fermentation lees and we bottle from the lees. We add about 60ppm of sulphur 2 - 3 weeks prior to bottling to ensure it is evenly distributed throughout the tank. We cannot mix it in for everything is still on the gross lees.
Winery: The Kokerboom vineyard consists of around 80% white Green Grape and 20% red Green Grape. We pick them together and press them simultaneously. The wine is one of the richest wines we produce with pure volume and massive texture. The Semillon ripens very well in this area due to the high solar radiation and the grapes enter the cellar between 13.5 – 14% alcohol. 2023 Kokerboom displays the typical waxy, lanolin characters often associated with Semillon. For the second year running, we had very little rain in the Citrusdal Mountains, and the vineyard was in a stressful environment throughout the growing season. We opted again to pick the vineyard slightly earlier than what we naturally would be inclined to, and the wine still yielded 13,8% alcohol; notwithstanding its fresh appearance, it is mammoth wine. The tannins, acidity, overall texture, and volume in the wine are incredible, and we are in awe of the power of this terroir. We produced very little, so please share with friends.
