Luddite 'The Saboteur' White Blend 2020

What a bloody lovely wine. Sealed under this funky crown cap is a very serious, wine. Aromatically very interesting - think orange blossom, tropical fruits and lime with a touch of gingery spice. The palate is a perfect dance between textural richness and fresh minerality, with white pear and citrus fruits clinging onto the tangy, salty acidity. Never ending, layered deliciousness.

The 2020 shows a slight change in style, fuller and richer than the previous 5 vintages due to a small percentage of botrytis in the Chenin Blanc grapes, so a little extra 6% of the 2021 Sauvignon Blanc harvest was thrown in for freshness. So the resultant blend this year is 61% Chenin Blanc, 20% Viognier and 19% Blanc Fumé. All the components spent 10 months in French Oak barrels of which the majority were old, and regular lees stirring took place to help flesh out the wine and increase the textural feel.

This is one of the pioneering wines of the new-wave South African wine scene, largely centred around the Bot River area. Saboteur is the ‘other’ label of Niels Verburg of Luddite Wines, generally considered the pied piper of creative winemaking from this region. As the name and bottle implies, his approach is very much the ‘hands-off’ or ‘low intervention’ style, but his wines are precise, clean, expressive and are in no way overtly funky or natural. As the bottle reads "Technology & mechanisation will never be a substitute for passion".