Winemaker Notes
This 2024 Rotsbank bottling displays gunflint and seaweed aromas with tropical granadilla secondary flavors. There is a line of green tea, and the tannin dries out at the end of the palate. This year is marked by incredible length and elegance on the palate. It is one of the wines that can be slightly reduced and shy on release, and we recommend that the wine be allowed to aerate if opened early. It is a very linear and firm style of Chenin.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This steely, mineral chenin is somewhat restrained, showing aromas of lemon rind, crushed rocks, thyme and pears, but it’s compact, full of tension and concentrated on the palate, with a medium to full body and racy acidity. I love the sharpness and minerality. This will age. The third edition of this wine. Chenin blanc from a historic vineyard with rocky soils. Try after 2026.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Sadie Family 2024 Swartland Die Distriksreeks Rotsbank is the most mineral and tightly coiled of the estate's Chenin Blancs, showing a deep golden hue alongside intense concentration and rigid structural drive. Acidity pulls the wine into a focused, almost architectural frame that speaks clearly of site. Drawn from 39-year-old vines rooted in shallow, weathered granite soils on the Paardeberg, Rotsbank highlights The Sadie Family’s pursuit of Chenin Blanc defined by "district," or "distrik."
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Vinous
The 2024 Rotsbank comes from Chenin planted at the back of the property, according to Sadie, the only one of 12 vineyards he works with that obtains a flintiness. This has fine lift on the nose with light petrolly, almost Riesling-like scents that evolve into more wet wool/lanolin scents with aeration. Fine delineation. The palate is very well balanced with a keen thread of acidity. Bright and sapid in the mouth, it gains weight and a little texture towards the extended finish. Excellent.
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Wine Spectator
A mineral-driven white, with slate, salt and floral accents on the nose transitioning to flavors of creamed apple, pear, grated ginger, green almond and lemon thyme. Racy and refreshing, with its mineral character coming to the fore again on the long, zesty finish. Chenin Blanc.
Unquestionably one of the most diverse grape varieties, Chenin Blanc can do it all. It shines in every style from bone dry to unctuously sweet, oaked or unoaked, still or sparkling and even as the base for fortified wines and spirits. Perhaps Chenin Blanc’s greatest asset is its ever-present acidity, maintained even under warm growing conditions. Somm Secret—Landing in South Africa in the mid 1800s, today the country has double the acreage of Chenin Blanc planted compared to France. There is also a new wave of dedicated producers committed to restoring old Chenin vines.
Literally meaning "the black land," Swartland takes its name from the endangered, indigenous "renosterbos" (translating to rhino bush), which used to be plentiful enough to turn the entire landscape a dark color certain during times of year. The district, attracting some of the most adventurous and least interventionist winemakers, excels in robust and full-bodied reds as well as quality fortified wines.