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First released in 2000, Columella is Sadie’s most famous wine. While it’s regularly described as an ‘icon wine’ of Swartland (and indeed South Africa), Eben Sadie’s goal is simply to produce the finest and most honest expression he can from Swartland as a whole. As such the blend includes six of the seven official red grapes that grow within the region. The 2020 is a smidge less than 40% Syrah, with the remainder a blend of Mourvèdre, Grenache, Carignan, Tinta Barocca and Cinsault. Eben notes that the incremental growth of Mourvèdre, Carignan, Cinsault and Tinta Barocca in the final blend has contributed to the depth and complexity of tannins and that there is also more fruit purity.
There is also a desire to try to capture as many of the soils and climates of the Swartland as possible. This year the grapes came from seven different soil types (including granite, slate, gravel and sandstone) across eleven separate vineyards in Paardeberg, Kasteelberg, Malmesbury and Piquetberg. Most of the vineyards are low-yielding, old-vine parcels, although some of the estate’s younger material also plays its part. Many of the Syrah vines have been trained to their own pole (echelas style, as per the Northern Rhône).
In terms of the winemaking, most of the fruit is destemmed, although each year an increasing percentage of whole bunches are being used. Sadie has a sorting team of 25 who discard between 8 and 15% of the fruit each year. The sorted grapes then go into a huge open fermenter for an average of three weeks on skins before being basket-pressed into mostly old, French oak barrels (less than 10% new). Following a year on lees, the wine is racked into seasoned oval casks (foudres) for further maturation on the fine lees. The wine is then bottled without fining or filtration.
A quick note on the history and evolution of this wine. In its first decade, the wine was a predominantly Syrah blend with Mourvèdre. Over the years, and specifically since 2009, Sadie has introduced ever-increasing amounts of the other varieties into the blend. The fruit is now also picked earlier, and the winemaking has progressed considerably. Before 2009 the style was geared towards power and extraction, maximising the depth of colour, flavour and tannin. Post-2009 the maceration has become progressively gentler, to the point where, today, the cap is simply kept wet, mainly via the use of handheld jugs. The amount of new oak has also decreased radically. It is no coincidence that these changes happened around the same time that Sadie was experimenting with similar techniques at Terroir al Lìmit in Priorat.