Luddite Saboteur 2018
Niels Verburg needed a wine that was priced more competitively than his signature Shiraz and came up with this cunning blend of Shiraz, Mourvedre and a splash of Cab Sauv. His packaging just won the Packaging Design of the Year Award in South Africa, but the juice even better!! During the Industrial Revolution the ‘Saboteurs’ burned down the factories of Europe. It was their way of protesting against the technology and mechanization that was costing them their jobs and way of life. At Luddite they have always been non-conformists (luddites) and they remain steadfast in their belief that “hand-crafted” winemaking produces better results. Niels Verburg is one of the original wine garagistes in South Africa – one of the first trailblazers to break away from the mainstream , commercial winemaking practices that saw the South African wine category falling behind the rest of the world. Some in the industry called him “reckless” in his ‘risk all’ pursuit of excellence. Some call him “old school” or “old fashioned” but know that here at Luddite, TECHNOLOGY & MECHANIZATION WILL NEVER BE A SUBSTITUTE FOR PASSION.
4 1/2 Stars John Platter Wine Guide
2018 was the fourth consecutive dry vintage with very little rainfall. This produced ripe fruit with big fruit flavors and for the first time ever, the Saboteur Red is dominated by Mourvédre in the blend. Cabernet Sauvignon was outstanding and included in the final blend. The Cab Sauv and Grenache Noir were all fermented in small batches in open bins with regular hand punch downs. The larger batches of Mourvédre and Shiraz were fermented in stainless steel tanks with regular pump overs. All components were pressed directly into barrel and allowed to mature with some fermentation lees. Some of the batches did malolactic fermentation in barrel which gives a fuller mouth feel and structure. This vintage was in barrel for 18 months with 30% new French Oak. All the components were aged separately. During the blending process, great care was taken to follow the house style of Saboteur, which is increasingly building up a huge following. 10 349 bottles made
Assemblage:
45% Mourvédre,
42% Shiraz
8% Cabernet Sauvignon
5% Grenache Noir (The Grenache Noir is from the 2019 vintage which lifts the freshness and red fruit spectrum of this wine.)
Harvest Information:
Wine Maker: Niels Verburg
Grapes were sourced from eight vineyard sites:
Bot River, Stuart Vineyards Shiraz harvested on 20th February 2018
Bot River, Luddite young block Cabernet Sauvignon harvested on 22nd February 2018
Bot River, Gabriëlskloof clone 1A Shiraz harvested on 1st March 2018
Bot River, Luddite young block Mourvédre harvested on 7th March 2018
Bot River, Gabriëlskloof clone 5A Shiraz harvested on 13th March 2018
Bot River, Gabriëlskloof Cabernet Sauvignon harvested on 21st March 2018
Bot River, Gabriëlskloof Mourvédre harvested on 21st March 2018
Bot River, Anysbos Grenache Noir harvested on 25th February 2019
Wine Analysis:
Alcohol: 14.8%
pH: 3.6
Total Acidity: 5.17 g/L
Residual Sugar: 2.16 g/L
