Luddite Saboteur White Blend 2019
HANSCORE: 17.5/25
So this wine is tighter than a geriatric hamstring. And there is the theory that another six months in the bottle, and it’ll lossen up a little.
But I have another theory:
There is thing that happens whenever a genjinely interesting & supremely well-priced rich, wooded white gets ‘discovered’. When people start talking, the winemaker gets self-conscious about its opulence – or whatever – and then spends the next vintage trying to tone everything down, and make it seem more serious/legit/”alluringly introverted”. And so there is less oak; more acidity; more “evidence of restraint”; less generosity… And so it is with the Saboteur White Blend 2019. This is still a fascinating wine, both in its make-up and winemaking…but in its bid to be less opulent in style, it has ended up just being…less.
But I have another theory:
There is thing that happens whenever a genjinely interesting & supremely well-priced rich, wooded white gets ‘discovered’. When people start talking, the winemaker gets self-conscious about its opulence – or whatever – and then spends the next vintage trying to tone everything down, and make it seem more serious/legit/”alluringly introverted”. And so there is less oak; more acidity; more “evidence of restraint”; less generosity… And so it is with the Saboteur White Blend 2019. This is still a fascinating wine, both in its make-up and winemaking…but in its bid to be less opulent in style, it has ended up just being…less.
But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it just needs another six months in the bottle, like the big man says.
—
👃🏼 For all my moaning, the nose on this guy is supreme. I mean, like Omar Shariff meets Dumbo. Beautiful wavevs of wax, nuts, hints of old oak, and stone fruit.
👄 The palate is pretty lean (as mentioned) with lanky tart apricot acidity, and grippy guava skin elements on the tail.
🔬 75% Chenin blanc, supported by some wooded Sauvignon blanc and Viognier. The Chenin was pressed into open-top plastic tanks, and fermented on the skins, before being transferred to barrel. The Sauvignon Blanc was treated more reductively (pressed straight into steel tanks). Components were blended just before bottling.
💸💸 ZAR180.00 (as of February 2021)
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