David & Nadia: Swartland’s finest Chenins?

Swartland is known for its extreme summer heat, and old bush vines are prevalent in the vineyards which cover the gentle hills and rocky mountain outcrops of Paardeberg, Kasteelberg and Piketberg.

It’s a region that’s currently leading the way for South African wine, home to forward-looking and experimental winemakers such as Eben Sadie (no relation!), Adi Badenhorst and Chris and Andrea Mullineux, as well as David & Nadia Sadie.Rediscovering Swartland’s abandoned apartheid-era vineyards – a disparate mix of semi-forgotten local varieties and international varieties – this new generation of winemakers has stumbled upon old (sometimes ancient) vines on what has turned out to be some impressive terroir.

Scroll down to see the latest releases, plus two verticals

Background

David & Nadia Sadie have only been making wine together since 2010 but they’ve already made quite an impact internationally.

The husband and wife team met at the University of Stellenbosch, where they both studied Viticulture and Oenology. David then found work at several wineries around the world, including Rustenberg in Stellenbosch and Yves Cuilleron in the Rhône Valley. It was during this time that he gained expertise working with Mediterranean grape varieties such as Syrah, Chenin, Marsanne and Roussanne.

David was working full-time at Lemberg in Tulbagh – chasing a more elegant, less oak-derived expression compared to the fruit-forward, opulent styles Swartland was known for – when he produced his first wine under his own label: Aristargos 2010.

He soon made more, and although quantities were tiny, the successes of his first few vintages led to him quitting his day job in 2013, making his wines in various rented spaces. In 2015, David moved into a restored 220-year-old cellar in Paardeberg in time for the 2016 vintage, when Nadia joined him as the winery’s full-time soil scientist and viticulturalist.

The couple now source fruit from around 25ha, 70% from owned and leased vineyards and the remainder bought-in. They own a vintage tractor which does much of the hard graft in their own vineyards, although David is keen to make the most of it by increasing their holdings.

From vineyard to cellar

David & Nadia’s ‘natural’ philosophy extends from vineyard to cellar. They rely on the natural drought resistance of old vines (the oldest planted in the 1960s) rather than irrigation; they achieve balance by clever blending of the various sites available to them, wild ferments include a portion of whole-bunch fruit which can impart texture and freshness, and they only use minimal amounts of sulphur at bottling.

They produce a red blend, Elpdios, and a white blend, Aristargos, as well as several single-varietals with a strong focus on Chenin Blanc: the 2018 vintage sees the release of a third single-vineyard Chenin Blanc, Plat’bos, which joins the Skaliekop and Hoë-Steen labels.

For the blends, David always ferments varieties separately to give him more control over the quality and style, and to hedge against disaster – he’s been bitten in the past.

The first vintages of his whites underwent 100% malo with battonage, but he scaled the battonage back from 2013 onwards as he found he could get all the texture he wanted anyway.

He’s never been a fan of new oak, and so has only ever used older French oak, particularly 300l barrels and 2,500- and 4,000-litre foudres.

In 2018 David also began using concrete tanks to ferment and age a proportion of the red wines – the CO2 build up, he explains, keeps the wines tight and fresh, and helps them to mature at a slower rate.

Elpidios

Elpidios, David & Nadia’s Cape red blend, is ‘the one wine that tells our story the best,’ according to David. Like its white counterpart, it’s an ever-changing blend reflecting not only vintage conditions but also the quest for elegance. As a result, the key component has over the years changed from Syrah to Carignan and then to Grenache, although Syrah has always made up approximately 30% of the blend.

‘Syrah today is the most important variety in the Swartland,’ he affirms.

After fermentation in stainless steel, Elpidios used to spend up to 20 months in large, neutral foudres before maturing in bottle for a further 20-22 months, but from 2016 the barrel time was reduced to 12 months with a further 18 months in bottle. This regime is reflected across much of the range.

For all vintages of Elpidios, up to 15% is back-blended – a portion of the following vintage added in. David explains that this is ‘to prevent the Grenache from “drying out” as it ages,’ ensuring that its character is focussed firmly on fresh fruit expression.

Single-vineyard Chenin

If anyone was to mark out David & Nadia’s flagship wines, these would be them. With the 2018 vintage, two becomes three – Skaliekop from brown shale soils is the most elegant, while Hoë-Steen on clay and iron-rich soils is the most intense. Plat’bos, on the Paardeberg’s signature granite, is racy and sculpted.

It really goes to show the potential and diversity of the region that these three Chenins are so different. And all of them are among the best South African Chenins that I have tasted. Our experts from the November 2016 South African Chenin Blanc panel tasting agreed, calling Hoë-Steen a ‘supreme Chenin’ and ranking it in first place.

David & Nadia: Latest releases and two verticals

Below are the top new releases from David & Nadia, followed by verticals of Aristargos and Elpidios (both including the latest vintages)

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