2024SadieFamilyPiekenierskloofSoldaatGrenache

Sans Soldaat is 100% Grenache from a parcel of 55-year-old vines in the highland Piekenierskloof region, just shy of the Swartland catchment, going north to Citrusdal. The vineyard got its name from the foot soldiers (piekeniers) who once used this area as a lookout. Hence the name Soldaat (Soldier). Sadie’s easterly facing parcel sits around 780 meters, one of the Cape’s highest elevations, and the soil is decomposed granite. The vines here are unirrigated, and still on their own rootstock. Eben notes that The Piekenierskloof Pass has firmly positioned itself as the leading location for Cape Grenache, with the area capable of giving vibrant, perfumed wines with lifted red fruit and spice as well as an earthy minerality (reminding us of the elegant, perfumed Garnachas from Gredos and San Martín de Valdeiglesias, in the Madrid highlands). Regardless, this is something very different to the heavy, alcoholic wines that are so often a theme with Grenache. Whole-bunch except for 15% to get the fermentation going, Soldaat is fermented (and raised) entirely in concrete.