The Swartland Is Making the Best Wine in the Cape

Ask the international critics where South African wine is being pushed forward and the answer keeps coming back to the same stretch of dry, wind-scoured country north of Cape Town. In James Suckling's latest South Africa report, Swartland producers led the country's highest scores, with Sadie Family Wines at the top of the list and Eben Sadie declaring 2025 "the best vintage in my last 25 years". Platter's Wine Guide has named Sadie Family its Top Performing Winery of the Year five times, a record no other producer matches, and the wider Swartland generation around him, from Mullineux to Rall, Alheit and David and Nadia, continues to collect five-star ratings with a consistency that has redefined the Cape's hierarchy. If you are travelling through the winelands, the Swartland is worth a day of your time.