2015 Columella
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Tasting notes
This bottle of the 2015 Columella is better than the one poured blind at the 10-Year-On tasting in London just a few weeks earlier. It has a floral bouquet with black plum, blueberry and light garrigue scents, the whole bunch imparting a subtle pepperiness. The palate is quite sweet on the entry, the tannins saturated and just a little glossier than the '12. Fine grip, but backward on the finish, suggesting that this will benefit from continued time in the cellar. Tasted at the Columella vertical in Hong Kong.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache, Carignan and Cinsault. From vineyards in Paardeberg (3 vineyards), Kasteelberg (3 vineyards), Malmesbury (1 vineyard) and Piquetberg (1 vineyard). The wine spends 12 months on the lees in tight-grain French oak barrels, just 8% of them new. The wine is then racked into large oval casks for an additional year of maturation on the fine lees. After a total of two years, the wine is bottled without fining or filtration. Natural cork. Tasted blind. Blackish ruby. Sweet, liquorice nose. Round, with excellent tannin management – quite a contrast to the Badenhorst Kalmoesfontein. Lots of interest and persistence here. (JR)
The 2015 Columella is darker in color than its peers. The nose is cut in a more modern, oakier style, with black cherries and veins of blue fruit. The palate is ripe and dense, clearly showing more extraction than its peers, though it does not have the same bandwidth and mineralité, rendered just a bit monolithic on the finish. Eben Sadie was making this in a heavier style at this point in time and recent vintages have demonstrated far more precision and character. Tasted blind at the 10-Year-On horizontal in London.
Complete and with a rich start and then lively and fresh. More layers here than is the South African norm. Feels as though it was built from the ground up. (JR)
About the producer
Since he started making wine under his own name in 2000, Eben Sadie became a cult name in South Africa. The Swartland producer is best known for his flagship Columella and Palladius, but he also makes a range of whites and reds under the Old Vine Series, which became the District Series in 2025.
Product details
Syrah / Shiraz, Grenache/ Garnacha , Cinsault, Carignan
Red
Dry