Rhône theme
Timed Online Auction, 30 January - 10 February 2025
Rhône - South Africa
About the SessionOver the past decade South African Rhône-style offerings have witnessed an explosion in popularity, led by the Swartland in the 2010s and subsequently spreading across the Cape.
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About this Item
Sequillo is Latin for ‘an arid dry place of great purity’, a venture started by Eben Sadie at his Swartland cellar. Aiming to showcase Swartland’s terroir, he utilised Mediterranean and Rhône varietals best suited to the conditions to create a white and red blend. Quoted by Eben to be ‘some of my best releases to date’, this was the first time the varieties were co-fermented, resulting in greater integration, balance and ultimately a better wine. With production discontinued in 2014 to focus solely on Sadie Family wines, what’s left of older vintage Sequillo bottles have become sought after collectors items.
This vintage was one of the last to be released before Eben decided to focus fulltime on Sadie Family Wines. Sequillo red and white are now extremely rare.
Producer Notes: The 2011 Sequillo Red shows bright red fruit characters with some secondary very earthy flavours coming through. It is however a wine that will very much benefit from decanting in the first 3 - 4 years of its life, as it is quite dense and compact. The 2011 shows for the first time the inclusion of Tinta Barocca in the final blend. The beauty of Tinta Barocca is that it has a long standing history in the Swartland with single vineyard bottling s from 1968 - 1974 showing extremely well event today mainly on the account of its higher acidity and firm tannin structure. To compensate for the higher tannin extract in the final blend we also increased the Cinsault percentage and the final blend is seemingly sitting together now.
Provenance
Private Client
Critics Ratings
'Changing blend, mainly Rhône varieties, shiraz-led in 2011 with cinsaut & 4 others. Reflecting the area & varieties, there is dusty cocoa, a core of dark wild fruit & then the clincher, juicy freshness & impressively supple tannins.' - Platter's SA Wine Guide 2015, 4.5*
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