Sadie Family Columella 2015
Vineyards
Swartland, Western Cape
Winemaking and Maturation
Hand sorting each berry for the entire production in small “strawberry” cases. Fermentation in 2000 litre open wooden fermenters. Fermentation is about three weeks at a temperature of 24 °C, followed by maceration after fermentation for another three weeks. Pressing occurs in an old basket press, and the wine is transferred directly to the barrel for malolactic fermentation.
Oaking: French oak barrels, Bordeaux Traditional selection. Tight grain. The wine ages for 18 months on the lees, followed by a rack and an additional six months of ageing on the fine lees. The total time spent is two years.
Tasting Notes
“The 2015 vintage was generally reviewed as a great vintage and that was no different in the Swartland. The vintage started with the first of the drier winter seasons we have had lately and the absolute grace factor was that February did not strike with the usual excessive heat waves, so the fruit came in quite bright and fresh with amazing texture.
It later transpired that much of that perceived acidity was in fact malic based and it obviously broke down during the malolactic fermentation. The 2015 wines are actually very fruit-forward wines and somehow fall between the early drinkable vintages and the absolute keepers, as in 2011 and 2014 for example. This Columella displays some bright fruit flavours, but in many ways the slightly riper fruit seems more grounded and the perfume flavours come to the foreground only after a while… and, now that the wine is in its youth, they immediately tilt over into underlying, much darker graphite and earthy flavours. The tannins are also still very tightly coiled up, but everything is in equilibrium. The wine needs time or should be decanted in its youth.” – Eben Sadie
Technical Details
Composition: Syrah, Mourvedre, Grenache, Carignan and Cinsault.
