The Sadie Family Columella Red 2018

98 points Tim Atkin MW 2020

The percentage of Syrah decreases every year – it was once 80% and is now closer to 45% – allowing Eden Sadie to play with other Mediterranean grapes, namely Mourvedre, Grenache, Carignan, Cinsualt and Tinto Barocca. Remarkably well balanced and refined given the heat and dryness of the vintage, this is scented, floral, nuanced with red with red-cherry and mulberry fruit, fine tannins and a lift of stony minerality. One of the best ever Columellas. 2023-32

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.”