2018 Sadie Family Swartland Treinspoor, South Africa

2018 Sadie Family Swartland Treinspoor, South Africa

2018 Boekenhoutskloof Chocolate Block  Red Blend, Swartland

2018 Boekenhoutskloof Chocolate Block Red Blend, Swartland

2017 Sadie Family Swartland Columella, South Africa

A$233.00
Availability: Out of stock
SKU
B17672v17
98
Signature wine. 14% alc. First released in 2000, Columella is Sadie’s most famous wine. While it is regularly described as an ‘icon wine’ of Swartland, and indeed South Africa, Eben Sadie’s goal is simply to produce the best and most honest expression he can from Swartland as a whole. As such the blend includes all six of the seven official black grape varieties that grow within the region, sourced from a range of the soil types. The 2017 is 60% Syrah, with the remainder coming from Mourvèdre, Grenache, Carignan and Cinsault. The fruit is sourced from both Sadie Family vineyards and rented parcels. This release was grown on seven different soil types—inc. granite, slate, gravel and sandstone—across nine separate vineyards in Paardeberg, Kasteelberg, Malmesbury and Piquetberg. The majority of the vineyards are low-yielding, old-vine parcels, though 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 Rhone. In terms of the winemaking, most of the fruit is destemmed, although each year an increasing percentage of the fruit is whole bunch. Sadie has a sorting team of 25 who discard between 8–15% of the berries each year. The sorted grapes then go into a huge open, concrete fermenter (with an average three weeks on skins) before being basket pressed into mostly old, French oak barrels, with only 8% new. Following a year on lees the wine is racked into oval casks (foudres) for a further maturation on the fine lees. The wine is 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, though specifically since 2009, Sadie has introduced ever-increasing amounts of the other varieties (listed above) into the blend. The fruit is now picked earlier, and the winemaking has also progressed considerably. Before 2009 the style was geared towards ripeness and extraction, maximising the extraction of colour, flavour and tannin. Post-2009 the maceration is super delicate, with the grape cap being kept wet mainly via the use of handheld jugs to pour juice over the top of the ferment. The amount of new oak has also decreased radically to the extent that only 8% new oak is used here. It is no coincidence that these changes happened around the same time that Sadie was experimenting at Terroir al Lìmit in Priorat. Columella is still a more powerful and complex wine than those in the Old Vine Series, with an unforced intensity and a corresponding increase in texture and ripeness. The 2017 is an intensely perfumed wine of outstanding tension and density. The tannins are fine and powdery and it feels like the texture is a touch more generous across the palate than the 2016. In our experience, decanting comes highly recommended.
Syrah-centred with satellites of 40% Mourvèdre, Grenache, Carignan and Cinsault, this is an "attempt to represent the whole Swartland", according to Paul Jordaan. All dry farmed, it's the best Columella I've ever tasted, with a lovely interplay between schist and granite soils, performing like two hands on a piano. Violets, fynbos and dry earth aromas segue into a palate that's focused, layered and subtle with bright, textured tannins and amazing minerality.
98 points Tim Atkin MW South Africa Special Report 2019
More Information
Product/Service Sold Out Yes
En Primeur No
New Arrivals No
Wine Type Red Wine
Country South Africa
Region Western Cape, Swartland
Varietals Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Cinsault, Carignan/Carinena/Carignane
Vintage 2017
Bottle Size 750ml
Wine Points 98
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