Mev. Kirsten

Shellfish, Lean fish, Fruity desserts

The vineyard is in very good standing currently and this year we will do the last interplanting of about 100 vines that we will root and re-graft next year. Over the past 15 years the wine has gained elegance carried by immense texture, density and power. Of all the singular sites we currently work with, this site is the only one that has the capacity to produce a wine of such volume and weight without any excessive notions. The texture and length of the wine just call everything to perfect discipline. We urge clients to give this wine the benefit of time in the bottle.

The wine is aged entirely on fermentation lees in foudres for 12 months and bottled from the lees. Two weeks before bottling, it is moved to a blending tank and approximately 50 mg/L of sulfur is added for protection. The wine typically clarifies naturally and is bottled without filtration.

Vinification involves whole-bunch pressing, followed by a brief settling. Juice is then transferred to old foudres for the first 12 months, while a younger-vines fraction—picked earlier—is separately vinified and later blended into the final cuvée. Settling occurs over approximately 12 hours across two pressings to manage fermentation clarity.

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.