The Sadie Family Mev. Kirsten 2024

This cuvée comes from the Jonkershoek Valley, in Stellenbosch, in the Western Cape. The Mev. Kirsten vineyard, part of which was planted in 1905, is among the oldest Chenin Blanc vineyards in South Africa. The vines are rooted in decomposed granite over an alluvial base, under the cool influence of the mountains that frame the valley.

The grapes are picked by hand, with the young vines harvested and vinified separately. The whole bunches are pressed, then the juice settles for around 12 hours before going into old foudres, where it ferments with its native yeasts. The wine stays on its fermentation lees for 12 months, then is bottled unfiltered.

This wine reveals notes of mango, pineapple, lime, green apple, green olive, dried herbs, sweet spices and toast. Exotic fruit dominates at first, then green, herbaceous notes emerge with aeration. The palate combines volume, texture and power with a fresh, lively acidity, which gives the wine a long, perfectly poised finish.

The first vines were planted in South Africa by Dutch settlers in the 1650s, although wine production did not really begin to take off until the arrival of French Protestants, in the 1680s, with their skills and their knowledge of viticulture. Stellenbosch is also a historic wine region, with the first vineyards being planted there in the 1690s.



Today South Africa is one of the most important wine producing countries in the southern hemisphere. With over 300 years of winemaking history, it is often described as a bridge between the Old and New Worlds. The majority of wines are produced using New World winemaking techniques, but they often have more in common stylistically with their Old World counterparts. Since the end of apartheid, South African wine has received international attention and acclaim for its wide variety of styles.



South Africa's wine industry is spread across the lush and rugged landscape of the Western Cape. Here, the abundance of mountains, valleys and plateaus allows winemakers to produce a wide variety of styles. Vineyards can also be found in the Orange River region of the Northern Cape, where the flat, arid landscape is dominated by the Kalahari Desert. Most of South Africa's wine regions have a Mediterranean climate, strongly influenced by the meeting of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.



The country's signature grape variety is Pinotage, an indigenous cross of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut that is rarely found in quantity in other wine-producing countries. Shiraz (Syrah) is also widely planted, as are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (often combined in a Bordeaux blend). South African Chardonnay, Chenin and Sauvignon Blanc have become popular internationally in recent years.