Description

The Saboteur White Blend by Luddite Wines is a pale straw colour with a hint of lime on the nose, along with spicy pear, peaches and citrus peel.  Pears and citrus bon-bons on entry open up to a textured mid-pallet with a medley of ripe plums, peaches and pears, finishing with a long balanced citrussy finish.

The Verburg and Meyer families set up Luddite Wines in 2000 on a slope of the Houw Hoek mountain outside the village of Bot River. The farm is 17 hectares of which 7 are under vine and 1 hectare is planted with olives, and is farmed as naturally as possible without any irrigation.  At Luddite, they firmly believe that great wine is made in the vineyard.

The 2018 Luddite white is a blend of 71% Chenin Blanc, 15% Viognier and 14% Fume Blanc.  The Chenin Blanc was naturally fermented in 3 batches, the first on skins for 8 days before pressing and finishing the fermentation in barrel. The second batch was crushed and pressed and the juice taken directly to barrel to complete fermentation. The third batch was left on skins for only 4 days then pressed and allowed to finish fermentation in barrel. This resulted in 3 very different styles which added more complexity to the final blend. The Viognier was fermented for 14 days on skins and the Blanc Fumé juice was taken directly to barrel without settling to give more texture and complete fermentation. All the components spend 9 months in French Oak barrels of which 11% were new this year.  The only sulphur addition was at bottling to protect the wine during this process.