Eben Sadie has acquired a reputation as the most innovative and inspired winemaker in South Africa today. He is a curator of South Africa's forgotten old vines, seeking out old vineyards throughout the Cape in order to saved and revitalise them. His wines are influenced by the Rhône and Spain and are produced in extremely limited quantities. He has a very pure way of producing the wine, everything is done by gravity and hand, and uses wooden open fermenters. His pursuit for quality in the Swartland has been unparalleled and his Columella and Palladius are among the most compelling wines being made in the country today.
Each case contains 3 bottles of each:
2020 Palladius Chenin Blanc Blend / Swartland
The 2020 Palladius displays for the first time in many years a cordial lime, citrus and zesty entry point on the aromas that follow through and then develop into mineral/salty qualities that spill over into some secondary white stone fruit aromas. For the f irst time, these stone fruit aromas made their appearance in the 2019 bottling. The wine has a firmly textured structure, the tannin is exceptionally compact, and the volume seems to be suspended in its weight. The colour of this 2020 Palladius is maybe the most striking in that it is perhaps the brightest and freshest it has been in years, especially for a wine that has been in a 24-month aging cycle in concrete, amphora and cask.
2020 Collumella Grenache, Syrah, Mouvedre, Carignan / Swartland
The 2020 Columella is the 21st bottling, and in many ways, we feel the wine has grown into its own personality, for annually the wine does change in varietal composition. Columella is a blend of its vineyards and not a blend of a given thought pattern by the winemaker. The fruit of the various sites is now perfectly knit together.
The 2020 Columella displays significantly lifted bright red crushed fruit that follows through to some darker blueberry aromas. On the palate, the wine is extremely finely knitted together and the tannin is almost seamless and the wine finishes powder dry with even more refined tannins in the aftertaste. The acidity is like a tightrope that threads through the wine from beginning to end and is mostly the workings of the Carignan and Mourvèdre in the blend.
