Here's our prediction: If there's one South African winemaker we're all going to fall in love with, it's Eben Sadie. And were not talking about his laid-back surfer mentality (or matching good looks!) but his... Read More

Here's our prediction: If there's one South African winemaker we're all going to fall in love with, it's Eben Sadie. And were not talking about his laid-back surfer mentality (or matching good looks!) but his amazing wines of terroir! Much like Raul Perez in Northwest Spain, Eben Sadie has revolutionized the wines coming out of his home region: South Africa’s Swartland.

Eben worked in Burgundy, Austria, Germany and Oregon, which taught him that the keys to expressing terroir are old vines with good fruit and hands-off winemaking. Armed with his Old World- winemaking know-how, he returned to Swartland, with its varied soils (clay, slate, shale, gravel, granite--even volcanic) and wealth of old vines, and got to work. And the work is good! Just one taste and you'll know that he's making some of the purest Chenin Blancs and Cinsaults around--and not just from South Africa!

Eben’s work--and his fierce defense of very old vineyards--has had a ripple effect across South Africa, where the dominating large wineries have paid little attention to vine age, routinely ripping up older plots to make way for some international variety. But now, many Eben-inspired winemakers are working to preserve older parcels through South Africa, and making delicious, terroir-specific wines from lesser-known regions and grapes. We hope the waves Eben Sadie roll on for years to come!