Eben Sadie Signature Series Mini Vertical Case

Eben Sadie started his winemaking career working for Charles Back’s Spice Route-labelled wines before breaking out on his own in 1999. He has acquired a reputation as the most innovative and inspired winemaker in South Africa with his goal to produce an expression of a region or specific site. 

Each case contains one bottle of each of below:

2019 Columella, Eben Sadie, The Sadie Family Wines, SwartlandIt's entirely appropriate that Columella should achieve a 100-point score in its 20th vintage, having completed two decades of trail-blazing brilliance. Based on Syrah with 55% Mourvèdre, Grenache, Carignan, Cinsault and Tinta Barocca, it's a seamless Rhône-meets the-Douro cuvée with violet, thyme and lavender aromas, subtle oak and peppery whole bunch spices, cassis, blackberry and cranberry flavours, thrilling acidity, minerality and haunting palate length. A truly great wine at the peak of its considerable powers. 2023-35.” 100/100 Tim Atkin MW

2018 Columella, Eben Sadie, The Sadie Family Wines, Swartland
“The percentage of Syrah decreases every year - it was once 80% and is now closer to 45% - allowing Eben Sadie to play with other Mediterranean grapes, namely Mourvèdre, Grenache, Carignan, Cinsault and Tinta Barocca. Remarkably well balanced and refined given the heat and dryness of the vintage, this is a scented, floral, nuanced red with red cherry and mulberry fruit, fine tannins and a lift of stony minerality. One of the best ever Columellas. 2023-32.”
98/100. Tim Atkin MW

2017 Columella, Eben Sadie, The Sadie Family Wines, Swartland
 This 2017 vintage has incredible tension and density and is very much ‘locked in’. The firmness of the wine suggests that it is a great keeper. It does exhibit amazing herbal, spicy and perfumed aromas and there is more than enough fruit – but it is a highly-strung wine that needs time. The tannins are fine, powdery and almost silky with  lower acidity and more expanded palate than the 2014 and 2016. The wine is super-tight and will require at least 2 hours of decantation if opened prior to 5 years of age in the bottle. 

2016 Columella, Eben Sadie, The Sadie Family Wines, Swartland
This Columella has a much deeper colour and concentration and is still very compact and in need of obvious ageing, but it is already showing great complexity in that the aromatics are not a singular line, but the coming together of many aspects. The aromas are a combination of bright fresh red fruits which then pass over to the riper black stone fruit. The wine is also very earthy and seems to live on a bed of freshly ploughed earth – and then there is the appearance of much darker graphite aromatics as well. The texture is still super compact and needs time: it is the result of 12 months ageing in barrels (8% new) and thereafter an additional 12 months in old, big oval casks. We bottle directly from the cask and the philosophy is to have minimum impact on the character of the grapes and rather just have the fruit express itself.

2019 Palladius, Eben Sadie, The Sadie Family Wines, Swartland
“Seventeen grapes from 11 sites make up the blend of this celebrated Swartland white, created to combine "two worlds in one - weight and tension", according to Eben Sadie. Perfumed and exotic, it's daringly unoaked, with peach, apricot, green apple and lime flavours, aromatic spices, layers of complexity and a racy, balanced finish. 2023-30.” 96/100. Tim Atkin MW

2018 Palladius, Eben Sadie, The Sadie Family Wines, Swartland
“Space prevents me from listing all of them, but this remarkable Swartland white is made from 11 different varieties, including Chenin Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Verdelho, Palomino, Marsanne and Roussanne, spread across 17 different sites. Peach, pear and lime flavours are beautifully melded on this more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts white, with gentle oak spice and a thread of acidity that runs through the wine like a cool underground stream. 2022-29.”
97/100. Tim Atkin MW
 
2017 Palladius, Eben Sadie, The Sadie Family Wines, Swartland
Palladius 2017 displays the magnitude of layers that is to be expected from a blend of 11 varietals across 17 vineyards, but unlike the previous two vintages there are more fresh fruit flavours and the stone fruit and peach skin aromas almost suggest a cooler vintage… this is in part the result of us picking slightly earlier than usual to try and save plant reserves for the vines to deal with the drought. This wine normally has more tropical aromas, but this year there is none of that to be found. Some white cassis and green apple skin make up a very restrained version with salty, mineral and slight honey and lime undertones. 
 
2016 Palladius, Eben Sadie, The Sadie Family Wines, Swartland
This 2016 vintage of Palladius has the simplicity of minimalistic design with nothing that shouts out and every one of the 11 varietals that drive this wine just seems to be in perfect synchronization. The aromas are a journey of more tropical, ripe fruit aspects going all the way to a very saline and mineral texture.