Eben Sadie is undoubtedly the driving force behind this field, where his sister and brother also work. A winegrower in the Swartland region, he produces, quite possibly, the best wines in South Africa. He is also one of the most striking and charismatic personalities in the southern hemisphere wine industry. Eben Sadie has extensive international experience having worked in Austria, Spain, Germany, Italy, Oregon and Burgundy. On his return to South Africa, he devoted himself to his own vineyard. The Sadie Family sources its grapes primarily from the Swartland regions, one of South Africa's warmest wine growing regions. However, all of its wines, both white and red, offer perfectly controlled alcohol levels and show no heaviness. Its supplies come from 54 plots spread over 38 hectares. All the plots are worked biodynamically and the yields are extremely low.
Columella is the flagship vintage among the red wines in the range. It is a blend of Carignan, Cinsault, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah and Tinta Barocca. This wine has a very limited production and is of course hand-picked with fermentation with native yeasts in cement vats, followed by maceration for an additional 3 weeks. No further additions are made. Malolactic fermentation takes place in oak barrels, 5% of which is new wood and the rest in used barrels. After 12 months of aging, the wine is aged in large wooden barrels for another 1 year in contact with the fine lees. After 2 years, the wine is then bottled without being filtered or clarified. This wine reveals a complex bouquet of red fruits , raspberry , plum , black cherry , red flowers , black olive , pepper , aromatic herbs and Asian spices . On the palate it is very elegant, without too much or too little. The wine has incredible balance, juicy acidity and powdery tannins that finishes with a long finish.