The 2020 Columella is the 21st bottling, and in many ways, feels like the wine has grown into its own personality, for annually the wine does change in varietal composition. Columella is a blend of its vineyards and not a blend of a given thought pattern by the winemaker. The fruit of the various sites is now perfectly knit together.
The 2020 Columella displays significantly lifted bright red crushed fruit that follows through to some darker blueberry aromas. On the palate, the wine is extremely finely knitted together and the tannin is almost seamless and the wine finishes powder dry with even more refined tannins in the aftertaste.
The acidity is like a tightrope that threads through the wine from beginning to end and is mostly the workings of the Carignan and Mourvèdre in the blend. As always, it is suggested to age this wine for a minimum of 8 years.
The 2020 Columella displays significantly lifted bright red crushed fruit that follows through to some darker blueberry aromas. On the palate, the wine is extremely finely knitted together and the tannin is almost seamless and the wine finishes powder dry with even more refined tannins in the aftertaste.
The acidity is like a tightrope that threads through the wine from beginning to end and is mostly the workings of the Carignan and Mourvèdre in the blend. As always, it is suggested to age this wine for a minimum of 8 years.
Hand sorting of individual berries of the entire production in small “strawberry” cases. Fermentation takes place spontaneously in 3300 liter open concrete fermenters for about three weeks at a temperature of 24 °C and is then followed by a post-fermentation maceration of another three weeks. No additions are made to the fermenting wine.
Pressing takes place in a traditional basket press and the wine is transferred to the barrel (5% new) for malolactic fermentation.
Winemaker : Eben Sadie
Pressing takes place in a traditional basket press and the wine is transferred to the barrel (5% new) for malolactic fermentation.
Winemaker : Eben Sadie
Eben Sadie is considered one of the great preservationists and visionaries in the new generation of South African winemakers. To Eben, the vineyard and fruit are part of the story—the truest expression of his art and philosophy.
The wine writer Neal Martin recently called Sadie an “outspoken, peripatetic, terroir-obsessed winemaker who has been instrumental in putting Swartland on the map. He produces a small portfolio of comparatively expensive, but highly coveted wines based on Rhone varieties sourced from his seemingly never-ending search for pockets of old bush vines and unique terroirs. These are cerebral wines built to age.”Sadie was founded in 1999, first wine was released in 2000.
The wine writer Neal Martin recently called Sadie an “outspoken, peripatetic, terroir-obsessed winemaker who has been instrumental in putting Swartland on the map. He produces a small portfolio of comparatively expensive, but highly coveted wines based on Rhone varieties sourced from his seemingly never-ending search for pockets of old bush vines and unique terroirs. These are cerebral wines built to age.”Sadie was founded in 1999, first wine was released in 2000.
