Skerpioen

Baked white fish, White meat, Smoked dishes, Complex salads

Skerpioen (Scorpion) is a wine from a very unique location halfway between Dwarskersbos and Elands Bay on the West Coast. One of the most amazing aspects of this location is the fact that the soils are chalky (limestone). In addition to that it is one of the coolest parts of the Swartland region, located a mere 2km from the Atlantic Ocean, but it is also a very dry area with an average rainfall of around 300mm per year. This location is home to some of the most intense south-easterly winds and the old vines look almost abused after having been battered by winds and blowing sand for years and years.

The wine is left in cask on the fermentation lees for the entire first 12 months and we bottle from the lees. Only about 50ppm of sulphur is added 2 weeks prior to bottling.

After harvesting the grapes are placed in a cooling room to reduce the temperature, since the average temperatures are often 35 degrees or more – and pressing warm grapes comes with its own series of problems. We then do whole bunch pressing, a process that takes about 3 hours during which time there is a margin of settling of the juice in the collecting tank. The juice is then transferred to two old foudres for fermentation. The natural fermentation can sometimes take up to 5 days or more to start. The fermentation may continue from 1 to 6 months and sometimes it only finishes in the following spring, by which time the malolactic fermentation would often have come to completion as well.

The Sadie Family strives for wines that are fresh flavorsome refined harmonious and balanced and aims to offer drinking pleasure at the highest level of quality at any stage of a wine's life: the wine-drinker's eagerness for a further glass is their measure of achievement! The Sadie's two wines Columella and Palladius originate in the soils in the Swartland region which stretches north of Cape Town between Durbanville and Piketberg inland from the Atlantic Ocean and centered on the town of Malmesbury. Importantly the area has a remarkably stable climate allowing a consistent level of quality each year in subtly different vintage conditions.