Sadie Family
Eben Sadie has now made 10 vintages of Columella, after a stint with Charles Back at Spice Route. Based in previously unfashionable Swartland, he is now one of a number of celebrated young artisanal winemakers there, though still the leading one, by common acclaim. He`s learnt a lot in the last 10 to 12 years, he says, not least the importance of being in the same place for a period, learning the vineyards and vines and gaining experience with different vintages. For instance, only in 2004 did he realise quite how good a season 2000 - his first - had been. Without the experience of 2003, he would never have been able to make 2007 as he did, nor would he have had the epiphany that caused him to make changes in 2009.
So here we have a grower who is both intelligent and reflective, who clearly knows his vineyards inside out, who is crazy about the importance of great farming. If you farm really well, he says, it`s incredible how much goes well in the cellar.
Columella isn`t a barrel selection. It isn`t a blended wine, except that is is a field blend of 85% Syrah and 15% Mourvedre, picked and co-fermented. The viticulture is designed for this wine. For nine years he has made the wine in exactly the same way, save for the proportion of new oak, which changes to suit the fruit of the vintage. He farms on five different poor soils with much composting and use of seven of the biodynamic preparations, especially 500, though he doesn`t farm biodynamically. Treat land well. Use lots of organic material, don`t spray heavy stuff, don`t take high yields. Between the vineyard and the winery, that carefully guarded fruit has a stern obstacle to cross. Eben`s 25 girls, his sorters who discard between 4% (exceptionally small) and 15% Normal) of the crop every year. Mostly they are hunting out raisins or over ripe fruit which is anathema here. Once accepted into the winery, only natural yeasts turn the juice into wine taking up to eight weeks. Columella is the driest red produced in South Africa. (CW 26/02/14)
So here we have a grower who is both intelligent and reflective, who clearly knows his vineyards inside out, who is crazy about the importance of great farming. If you farm really well, he says, it`s incredible how much goes well in the cellar.
Columella isn`t a barrel selection. It isn`t a blended wine, except that is is a field blend of 85% Syrah and 15% Mourvedre, picked and co-fermented. The viticulture is designed for this wine. For nine years he has made the wine in exactly the same way, save for the proportion of new oak, which changes to suit the fruit of the vintage. He farms on five different poor soils with much composting and use of seven of the biodynamic preparations, especially 500, though he doesn`t farm biodynamically. Treat land well. Use lots of organic material, don`t spray heavy stuff, don`t take high yields. Between the vineyard and the winery, that carefully guarded fruit has a stern obstacle to cross. Eben`s 25 girls, his sorters who discard between 4% (exceptionally small) and 15% Normal) of the crop every year. Mostly they are hunting out raisins or over ripe fruit which is anathema here. Once accepted into the winery, only natural yeasts turn the juice into wine taking up to eight weeks. Columella is the driest red produced in South Africa. (CW 26/02/14)
