The Sadie Family Wines pty ltd

While writing these notes on the past year, it has actually dawned on me that it has been over 12

months now that most of us have been living with the new reality of Covid 19 and the massive

cost it has on all levels of society.

In this period we have also been reminded that one cannot stop working towards a better future

nor can one stop living, since life just goes on!

We have had an ultra-busy year with so much going on in the vineyards – on hindsight the

past year seems like a freight train in full speed… and that in a period in which nobody was

travelling anywhere. This absence of travel has actually been one of the major advantages since

we were here all the time and on the job… and we truly got things done.

Our new plantings on the West Coast at the Bottelfontein property already look like vineyards

that have been there forever and they have completely changed the landscape. At home the

last remaining parcel of land on the Rotsvas property has also been prepared to be planted this

coming season. This vineyard will be called Sonvang.

The soil preparation went very well and for this virgin soil site we actually ended up with

great prospects of future plantings. The varieties to be planted in the Sonvang vineyard include

Alicante Bouchet, Agiorghitiko, Pontac, Tinta Amarella, Tinta Barocca, Bastardo, Lleudoner

EBEN’S NOTES

RELEASE 2021

Pelut, Syrah for the red fraction; and on the white soil section of this vineyard we will plant

Grillo, Cinsault Blanc, Palomino, Grenache Blanc, Semillon and Clairette Blanche. This past

winter was spent on a massive project to get all of this historical material assembled and grafted.

We had a very good take in the nursery and in January the new vines looked impressive, so

we are looking forward to the planting this winter - if possible, during the first two weeks of

August, being the period in which we planted all our other vineyards in the past.

In the meanwhile, in between harvesting in February, we have also planted all the poles in the

Sonvang vineyard since the entire development will follow the historical head prune technique

(raised bush vine).

We have but one chance to truly establish a vineyard and we have to do everything humanly

possible to ensure that the vineyard has the best opportunity to potentially join the ranks of

South African greats in the next 80 years. Therefore no effort can be spared. The past years

of planting cover crops and tending to the soil health with compost and getting it all hundred

percent ready have finally set the canvas for what will hopefully be incredible fruit in the future.

Days before the first lockdown was announced we brought major earth moving machinery

onto the farm and we have completely re-built our farm dam since then. The previous dam

had a perforated wall and drought and leaks just do not go together. We even had to dynamite

a massive rock formation out of the floor of the dam. The extent of the project meant that

8 000 cubic meters of soil had to be trucked out and 7000 cubic meters of clay had to be trucked in

to be compacted back into the wall. Today the dam stands as a thing of beauty and future securit