Young Guns and New Wave Producers
Timed Online Auction, 17 - 27 November 2023
Young Gun and New Wave Producers
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About this Item
Eben Sadie is South Africa’s most revered winemaker and he arguably kick-started the local fine wine revolution. Over two decades his pursuit for quality in the Swartland has been unparalleled in South Africa and he was voted Winemaker of the Year in 2017 by the International Master of Wine Institute. Eben’s wines were influenced by the Rhône and Spain, with traditional local varieties sourced from pockets of old bush vines and unique terroirs. Long-ageing Columella is often regarded as South Africa’s best red, while Palladius similarly offers an incredible Swartland expression and decades of longevity. The old vine single vineyard series, which was first released in the 2009 vintage, is now firmly the most sought-after release of the year. Mev Kirsten is South Africa’s rarest white wine, produced from a century old Stellenbosch vineyard, while the now legendary Skurfberg received 100 points from Tim Atkin in 2020.
Columella is named after the ancient Roman writer who produced perhaps the earliest good treatise on viticulture in his De re rustica. Starting in 2000, Eben’s goal was to produce the finest expression of the Swartland and today Columella is South Africa’s most coveted red wine.
Provenance
Wine Cellar Private Client
Critics Ratings
‘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. 2022-35’ - Tim Atkin MW, SA Special Report 2019, 98/100
‘Shiraz with mourvèdre, grenache, carignan, cinsaut & tinta blended as representative of Swartland. 2017 among finest yet, exhibits great freshness, tension & secure core of tightly knit, ripe tannins. Incipient wild herb & sweet fruit complexities are temptations worth the long wait this benchmark deserves. Year in barrel, just 5% new, further 12 months in foudre. Unfined/filtered, as all.’ - Platter’s SA Wine Guide 2020, 4.5* (94/100)
‘The nose is quite heady and yet entirely capitivating – pomegranate, olive, herbs, flowers, earth, liqourice, white pepper and other spice while the palate is super-rich with apparently sweet, dense fruit offset by lip-smacking acidity (lower than usual but certainly not insufficient) and very fine, powdery tannins (alcohol: 14.04%). It makes a massive impression and as with Palladius of the same vintage, you have the sense of some very deft winemaking under the trying circumstances.’ – Christian Eedes, Winemag.co.za, 95/100 (Jul 2019)
‘The 2017 Columella has an outgoing, intense bouquet, a mixture of red and black fruit mixed with sage, tobacco and thyme, that seems a little smudged initially but gains clarity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins, plenty of red berry fruit, a generous sprinkling of white pepper and a hint of fennel. Powerful yet refined, and very focused and harmonious on the finish. Gorgeous.’ – Neal Martin, Vinous, 94/100 (Nov 2019)
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