96TA: Henk Laing’s grape and rooibos tea farm on the Citrusdal Mountain has been taken over by his family after his death, which is a relief to fans of this wine (and others from the property). A co-fermentation of Semillon and 25% Semillon Gris, this is generally the most exotic white in the Sadie Family range, but is a bit more focused in 2023 because of the early pick. Lime, nectarine and lemon zest flavours are underpinned by stony minerality. 2025-32
93VM: The 2023 Kokerboom is a blend of co-planted Sémillon Blanc and Gris on sandstone with shale and silt—Sadie’s most northerly parcel in the Cape. Yellow plum and light waxy scents slowly emerge the nose; this is another 2023 that takes time to open in the glass, with just a hint of star anise in the background. Fresh and tensile, the palate is well balanced with citric notes of bitter lemon and orange rind, leading to another strict and linear finish that lingers in the mouth. Very fine. - By Neal Martin on August 2024
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.
