The Renaissance Man
“The most beautiful Afrikaans word is this: Wysbegeerte.” - Eben Sadie.
Directly translated “Wysbegeerte” means “Philosophy”, though the Afrikaans word speaks of a DESIRE to know, a NEED to understand. Eben Sadie blew me away with his “wysbegeerte”. His absolute, single-minded pursuit of knowledge is infectious and beautiful, in a world where most people are only mildly passionate about the things they do. He quotes Nelson Mandela, in a letter he wrote to Tafelberg Publishers in 1975 from Robben Island, thanking them for the poems of DJ Opperman, in Afrikaans. He finds a resonance with Nelson Mandela’s “wysbegeerte” about the people of South Africa, even his captors. “There was a leader.” You see, outside of being an absolute DO- ER, Eben is a scholar, a historian, a biologist, a farmer, a viticulturist, a surfer, a father, a husband, a business owner, a winemaker … a Renaissance man. The best description I could find is this: “In the simplest terms, a Renaissance man is a person with genuine competence in and understanding of multiple different fields, all of which complement one another to make him a more talented and productive person.”
Extreme Vines
Eben studied at Elsenburg and then travelled the world for 18 years learning everything he could about oenology, viticulture and the CULTURE around it, learning biodynamics in Switzerland, winemaking in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the USA. He packaged everything he learnt and brought it back home. HOW he farms today is not prescribed by anyone but his own meandering experience, the result impressive, even to a layman like me. Unconcerned with being certified as either organic or biodynamic, he scoffs: “I want to farm, not do admin.” But the principles are undeniable. Sadie Family Wines are made in the vineyard, and you should SEE the vineyard. I’ll admit, I thought it was a field lying fallow, but on closer inspection you’ll see the vines peering out from amongst LUSH cover crops, totally ALIVE (the vines dormant for now). It’s simple really (when he explains it), the earth doesn’t want to be naked, it naturally covers itself when exposed, and why should it be any different for the vines? Currently farming 45 vineyards within 300km of each other, including 28 varietals, with 23 people, 24 hectares in total, 9 of these on their farm “Rotsvas” (meaning bedrock, or foundation), producing 65 000 bottles a year - Eben is at the forefront of extreme vine growing. ‘Extreme’ because the Swartland is one of the regions worst hit by climate change, he says he’s been dealing with it for 18 years and his vineyards are a study in preventative measures - maybe ‘preventative’ is the wrong word - his vineyards are a study in the FUTURE of vine growing.
R&D
The cover crops do not only provide sustenance for the soil, a biome for bugs and animals, but also protection for the vines from the harsh Swartland climate. The vines themselves are pedigreed plant material, made-up of some of the most OUTLANDISH varietals, and yet totally suited to this terroir. Like he says: “Don’t plant to sell, plant what belongs.” I asked Kleinjan to add in the clip where Eben names just a few of these varietals, but he said it lasted over 2 minutes, so I’ll attempt to name some of them here: Alicante Bouschet, three strains of Cinsault , two strains of Carignan, three strains of Grenache, Counoise and Terret Noir, Vermentino, Picpoul Blanc, Marsanne, Cinsault Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Grillo, Catarratto, Assyrtiko , Verdelho, Bastardo, Chenin Blanc, Negroamaro, Aglianico, Pontac, Tinta Francesa, Trincadeira and Tinta Barocca (to name a few). These plants are brought in from all over the world, spend 7 years in quarantine, 3 years to produce a crop and another 2 to figure out if it actually WORKS. But like Eben says, what’s 10 years on a 100? His goal is to eventually include (some of) these grapes in his two Swartland ambassador wines, the Columella and Palladius. Don’t let their ancient names fool you, these are not ambassadors of the old Swartland, but ambassadors of the REAL Swartland. With this overarching goal in mind Eben essentially quit his job as winemaker a few years back, leaving the winemaking in the capable hands of Paul Jordaan, and focussing his attention solely on the business of viticulture. Today Eben works with an impressive cast of people, people like Jaco Engelbrecht, Dr. Strauss, Morné Steyn, and a number of other viticulturists and farming specialists to make up what he calls their R&D operations. Research and Development. Together they are pioneering a new era in Swartland winemaking, finding and growing varietals that could potentially survive what is to come.
99 Bottles of Wine on the Wall
EVERYWHERE on the farm, in the office and even in his house, there are empty bottles of wine lining the walls. And not just ANY wines, STORY wines, Romanée-Conti, Lafite, Mouton, Latour, Petrus, Margaux, Château Libertas, Palmer and a great many others that I could just HOPE to know in years to come. Eben’s wife says, over Malva pudding and Columella (LOOK INTO THAT), it’s a story deciding who goes up and who comes down from the wall. THESE are the wines Eben aspires to, he spends a fortune each year to taste them, and measures his own wines by THESE standards. To a man, they are OLD wines, and representative of the patience inherent to the man, not just in the vineyard, but in the bottle. What’s 10 years on a 100? There are no half measures. He’s not working to fit in, he’s working to STAND OUT.
Tenacity
“Tenacity” he says. Just totally GOING for it, that’s what it takes. As a historian, Eben has studied the history of South African wine (amongst others), listing the grandeur of our winemaking past from Château Libertas, to Alto, to Giorgio Dalla Cia, his eyes light up when he talks about them and you can SEE the nostalgia and just sheer emotion that such a proud heritage should be ours. It makes sense then that he has sought to revive this history in his Old Vine Series, consisting of a whole host (8) of incredible terroir and old vines, including pockets in Stellenbosch (Good old Mev. Kirsten), the Swartland of course and Clan William. These wines are representative of our ancient soils and old vines, as well as Eben’s willingness to preserve them. When I ask him why old vine growers in the past have kept these low yield vines in the ground, he answers that it was mostly down to nostalgia and not with any foresight as to the quality of the wine. Eben’s perseverance then, to actually MAKE something of these difficult vines, a very VALUABLE contribution, once again to South African winemaking. The T’Voetpad didn’t make it to bottle this year due to low yields, and Eben has allowed it to gather its strength and is working his wonders on the vines to recuperate after this year’s drought. While the yields overall have dropped significantly due to the drought, the little that was bottled, by all accounts is SPECTACULAR and yet another feather in his (and South Africa’s) proverbial cap.
150 Years
Eben says he’s not an optimist, but a realist. And it shows in everything he does. He doesn’t place any emphasis on accolades, and of milestones he only mentions his family, their ability to stick together, the strength of his wife, his three children (two boys and a girl) all destined to become winemakers, the fact that each of them are self-sufficient, humble people and that he is unafraid to send them into the world. Now THAT is something to be proud of. Of South Africa, like all of us, he is proud, and sad, and angry, and defiant. He’s still living on the dream of 1994, and if Mandela’s letter of 1975 is anything to go by, then he believes that SOMEWHERE in this whole mess, SOMEONE still holds onto that “wysbegeerte”, and he’ll be doing what he needs to be doing for the Swartland and South African wine, until we are able to build THAT fire again. Afterall, he’s growing vineyards to last 150 years - we should have sorted ourselves out by then.
