Columella

Beef, Lamb, Spicy food, Mature and hard cheese

Our Signature wines spearhead our viticultural and vinicultural developments and the yearly renewed implementation of more finite and precise workings. The incremental growth of Mourvèdre, Carignan, Cinsaut and Tinta Barocca in the final blend has contributed much to the depth and complexity of tannins. The fruit purity has also been lifted with remarkable freshness on the palate. The Columella has taken on many dimensions and interpretations over time, with quality being the central pillar, but more recently, the response to terroir has been more linear.

The wine spends 12 months on the lees in tight-grain French oak barrels, just 5% of them new, and is then racked into big oval casks (foudres) for an additional year of maturation on the fine lees. After two years the wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered

Hand sorting of individual berries of the entire production in small “strawberry” cases. Fermentation takes place spontaneously in 3300 litre 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.

The Sadie Family strives for wines that are fresh flavorsome refined harmonious and balanced and aims to offer drinking pleasure at the highest level of quality at any stage of a wine's life: the wine-drinker's eagerness for a further glass is their measure of achievement! The Sadie's two wines Columella and Palladius originate in the soils in the Swartland region which stretches north of Cape Town between Durbanville and Piketberg inland from the Atlantic Ocean and centered on the town of Malmesbury. Importantly the area has a remarkably stable climate allowing a consistent level of quality each year in subtly different vintage conditions.