Sadie Family Swartland Palladius Chenin Blanc 2017

Sadie's signature white, Palladius, is a blend of all eleven of Swartland's official white varieties, with old, bush-vine Chenin Blanc playing the principal role. The idea is to produce a great white that represents the overall terroir of Swartland (as much as this is possible) and to use all of the permitted varieties. As a result, this is harvested from seventeen separate vineyard sites, with the full list of grapes comprising: Grenache Blanc, Clairette Blanche, Viognier, Verdelho, Roussanne, Marsanne, Semillon, Palomino and Colombard, as well as the hyper-rare Semillon Gris (which plays a key role in Sadie's Kokerboom and T'Voetpad Old Vine Series cuvées). Scattered throughout the Swartland, most of the vineyards are rooted in decomposed Paardeberg Granite (although four parcels lie on sandstone) and qualify for old vine status (35-plus years with the oldest vines planted in 1935). The younger fruit comes from Sadie's own plantings, though even here the yields max out at 22 hl/ha.