Eben
Sadie and Columella
A vertical tasting of Eben Sadie's remarkable Columella wine, from
South Africa's Swartland wine region, starting with the first
vintage (2000)
Eben Sadie is one of South Africa’s
most respected and high profile winegrowers, and I have written
about him at length before (see here
and here). With the 2009 vintage, Eben has now
completed 10 years of Columella, his red wine, and the one he
started out with back in 2000. He came to London to present a full
vertical of Columella to date – a tasting not to miss. In this
write up, much of the content is in Eben’s own words. He’s a
really thoughtful winegrower, and it’s worth hearing what he has
to say.
‘The nice thing about a vertical is
that everything is on the table,’ said Eben. ‘You are all
professionals. I can lie a little bit here, but not too much!’ He
added, ‘The guys that produce wine have great difficulty in
telling the truth. You will all have your opinion, but for me the
important thing will be the conclusion that I have made; what I have
learned. What I have learned from the first 10 years is much more
important than what I have actually done in the first 10 years.’
In his first vintage, 2000, Eben made
just 17 barrels of wine. But it’s only thanks to a UK wine
merchant that it ever got bottled.
‘I still remember it. Two to three
years before this when I was in London with Spice Route, I met Roy
Richards,’ recalls Eben. ‘One thing that struck me about this
gentleman was that I thought he could really taste.’ So when Roy
was on holiday in South Africa, Eben called him up when he heard he
was out, and he asked him to taste the wine. ‘At that stage I had
the 17 casks of 2000, and I didn’t I have a pound in the bank to
get the casks into bottle. There was just no way that I could get
this wine finished. He came to the cellar. I had the blends out, and
he was sitting there tasting the wine and he took forever.’
‘He was sniffing and swirling and
taking his time. I was like a cat, up and down, and in and out of
the cellar. After a long while he said that it was pretty decent. I
just needed somebody to affirm that it was what we had been setting
out to do. There and then he bought in advance: it is the only wine
I have ever sold in advance, and the only way I could ever get the
Columella to bottle.’
Roy Richards took out a ‘with
compliments’ slip from Richards Walford and wrote a contract,
signed it, and a week later paid for the wine. ‘I could then take
that money and buy bottles and corks,’ says Eben. ‘England was
my first customer and I am very grateful for that. Those are the
kind of events that make things happen.’
‘In the cellar of the Sadie family
there is a white wine and a red wine. It isn’t that we have 200
barrels every year and then after 18 months we select the best 14
barrels and bottle that. For me this is a little bit like playing
cards. The way I understand wine is that you start from the vineyard
and you set out to make wine from the viticultural side.’
‘I decided to work in the Swartland for
three or four main reasons. It is not the best known region in South
Africa, but it is definitely the area with the most interesting
soils. It has the poorest soils, no water (no irrigation) and it
also has the highest per capita of old vineyards in the country. And
there are not a lot of people. It is an area that can produce
incredibly high quality fruit. We wanted to just harness all this
and bring it together.’
‘I am not a guy who sits in my office
with a test-tube and then I blend this and that. That is not how I
understand wine. If I taste my wine and I feel that it needs more
acidity, then I’ll plant a grape variety with more acidity, I’ll
plant it at high altitude and I’ll plant it facing south, rather
than blending or adding acidity. This vineyard will become the
responsible party for acidity in the wine. If a wine needs fruit
then I’ll plant a variety that brings fruit to the wine. This is a
proactive way of farming; a way to secure the quality in the wine
for ever and ever. All the other strategies—where often wines are
made after the vineyard—I don’t feel is very progressive.’
‘Columella is a blend of five different
soil types. The first and most important soil is from the Paardeberg
mountain (horse mountain) in the region, which is very young
granitic formations and decomposed granite. On decomposed granite,
we find that the fruit of the red wines is spicy, herbal and
garrigue like. We have quite a lot of our vineyards in these
granitic soils.’
‘The second mountain is the Riebeek
mountain, which is a formation of red slate/schist. This is a slate
formation with a high level of iron in it. It is the kind of soil
you will find in the Douro, the Roussillon mountains, or Priorato or
the northern Rhône in Côte
Rôtie.
This is an important soil for us gives freshness, red fruits,
brightness. The vineyards here don’t get too ripe: you can pick at
13.5% alcogol and you have bright, red, fresh fruit and good
acidity.’
‘The other soil I work with is an
alluvial soil. It is the kind of soil that you find in Pessac. These
are soils that weren’t born here, but were moved by water, so they
are flat. These have high levels of minerality. The wines are our
most soft-spoken wines, but in the blends they deliver a lot of
minerality.’
‘Then we have two sites that are deep
red clay soils, like the terra rossas in Australia. These are heavy
clays with lots of iron, and they make for massive structure and big
tannins. I don’t like too much of this in the wine because it gets
to abrasive, but it is a great base. We try to keep this to 15% of
our vineyards.’
‘The last, of the more important soils
is argilocalcaire, a clay loam chalk formation. It is very rare in
South Africa, and is mainly in the Robertson area, but we have
identified seven hectares on the coast. It makes the most amazing
wines. The most purple, violet wines: the kind of characteristics in
Syrah that we find incredibly attractive, and the characteristics we
only find in Syrah when it is grown in a continental climate.’
‘In total we have eight vineyards. We
bring grapes from all our soils in, and the only thing we do is sort
out any raisins. I have 25 girls and we sort out every berry. I
don’t like sugar: not in coffee or food, or wine. I don’t like
jam. The threat in my area of South Africa is not rot or disease or
unripeness, but over-ripeness and sweetness. By eliminating any
raisined, over-ripe grapes we improve the freshness of the wine
incredibly.’
‘We have a long maceration on the skins
of seven to eight weeks. We do one pigeage a day by foot for the
first 10 days, and then when the solution gets to liquid with a
pigeage stick, once a day. I don’t want to over-extract. We press
in a basket press and then the wine spends 24 months in cask before
bottling unfined and unfiltered.’
‘The thing that affects acidity in the
Swartland is rainfall. If we don’t have rain somewhere in January
then we don’t have acidity. You need that rain just to have enough
moisture for the vine to get the fruit properly ripe. If you don’t
have that rain, all the processes happen too fast, and the vine runs
out of energy. The most important chemistry in a vine is the Krebs
cycle, which is the cycle in which the vine breaks down acid. This
is where it gets its energy. If that cycle is going too fast, you
break down way too much acid. If our vines don’t have that rain
and it feels stress, it starts to push too much acid through that
Krebs cycle. The Krebs cycle for a vine is like drinking Red Bull.
It takes the acid out of the berries. My interest in wine chemistry
died 15 years ago, but my interest in the vine’s chemistry is
ongoing. I want to understand the plant. Winemaking has to be
simple: we haven’t changed the winemaking in the cellar for 10
years, because if you make everything different you can’t read the
vineyards. For me it was important to get a zero line in the cellar,
and then we can get a reading.’
Sadie
Family Columella 2000 Swartland, South Africa ‘The
first vintage, 2000, was a phenomenal vintage in South Africa,’
says Eben. ‘The problem is, I didn’t realise it at the time. I
only realised years after how perfect these grapes were.’ There
was a little bit of rainfall just before vintage. This wine has the
lowest percentage of Mourvedre in it (95% Syrah, 5% Mourvèdre).
At this stage the Mourvèdre was too young and
imbalanced. This has 35% new oak. ‘It is drinking well but it
could age three or four years more. I like to drink my red wines
while they still have fruit.’ Fresh dark fruits nose is gravelly
and bright with berry fruits to the fore. The palate is firm and
quite tannic with just a hint of earth and spice. Nice spicy
structure with a hint of gravel and appealing berry fruits. Ripe but
well balanced; still quite fresh and angular, but with elegance.
92/100
An
aside on oak
‘Charles Back wasn’t afraid to invest
in Spice Route. In the four years I was there, I had the privelege
to run an extensive oak campaign, to find out what oak will work in
the Swartland. When we built spice route there wasn’t a single
winery working with this sort of ageing. I got to learn a lot about
oak. The conclusion from four years of work was that we realized
that for the Swartland the best barrels are 225 litres with at least
five years of seasoning. Most barrels are only seasoned for 24–36
months. And then you don’t toast the barrels: you just heat them
to get the staves warm to bend them. In some instances we even did
barrels where we just steam bent the staves. We work with very low
toasting. At the beginning we tried everything.’
‘The barrels are always getting better
and better like the corks. There are so many great alternatives now.
I love to see stelvin screwcaps on my neighbour’s bottles. I
won’t use an artificial cork, but I appreciate everyone who does
because it is pressurizing the cork industry to wake up. With the
world economy where it is the barrel industry is in dire straits.
Their sales are dropping. Two things could happen. Either we’ll
see the elimination of very small players, which will be sad. Or
people will start cutting corners to stay in the game, so one has to
be very careful. The best barrels were made from 2000–2008: you
almost couldn’t find a bad barrel. It will be challenging to see
what happens now.’
‘I have begun to dislike wood. But it
is because of where I am. I was in Burgundy and the northern Rhône last week
tasting the 2010s, and the people making wine in continental
climates can really use wood and complement their wines. But for us,
working with very mature fruit, it is more difficulty. The barrel is
essentially an incubator for ripening the wine. You ripen the wine
in the wood. For us, with a Mediterranean climate, where the grapes
are inevitably mature, the last thing we need to do is mature the
wine more in the wood. The tannins are mature. What we have to do is
move away from oxygen and protect the fruit and freshness of the
wine. So I am moving away from wood. Also, on a generic profile
across the world, people are moving away from wood. I think it will
be an interesting move because we will taste more wine.’
‘If you look at a vineyard that is 100
years old, why in the world would you put these grapes into 100% new
wood, and make this wine taste like a tree that grows in France for
at least 10 years of its life? 80% of consumers will taste the tree
in France and not your terroir, because most people drink the wines
before they are 10 years old. So I have moved completely away from
oak.’
Sadie
Family Columella 2001 Swartland, South Africa The
driest year to date in the Swartland. There is normally 450 mm
rainfall annually in the region; in 2001 there was just 250 mm. Eben
did three green harvests, because the only way to encourage the vine
not to use the acidity of the fruit is to decrease the crop. The
wine is more concentrated, and Eben decided to use more new wood
with this: it’s 70% new wood, 15% Mourvèdre
(since this vintage every wine has had this much). 14.1% alcohol.
Rich, vibrant sweet blackcurrant and plum fruit nose with some tar
and gravel. The palate is dense and structured with lovely earthy
spicy notes under the dense blackberry fruit. Rich and tannic with
some earthy notes and good acidity. Structured and intense. Very
rich. 92/100
Sadie
Family Columella 2002 Swartland, South Africa ‘Following
on from the dry 2002, we have the wettest year I have made. We had
rain the whole season; we were sitting waiting for grapes to ripen.
This doesn’t usually happen in Swartland. It is the most austere
wine, but it has always been a complex wine that doesn’t really
look like any of the other wines we have made. This is the only wine
which I still feel today I haven’t got my head around. We dropped
the new wood down to 20%.’ 13.8% alcohol. Aromatic with fresh
black cherry and blackberry fruit. Fresh with nice spicy, earthy,
tarry structure. Some warm, rounded, earthy aromatics, with gentle
spiciness, finishing mineral and quite spicy. Rich, complex and
alive: drinking well now. I’d drink soon. 93/100
Sadie
Family Columella 2003 Swartland, South Africa ‘In
Europe it was a hot year. What happened in Europe happened in South
Africa but not to that extent. It was just a warmer year for us. It
was much drier than 2002, but we had a wet winter after 2002. It was
one of my shortest harvests ever, and all the parcels just ripened
really fast. This is a wine that I didn’t like for at least three
years in bottle, because it was always a bit riper and heavier; more
extracted and powerful. But it has calmed down in bottle. The
tannins were so ripe we didn’t use too much new wood, even though
it was concentrated. I am grateful we didn’t leave it longer on
the skins, and that we didn’t use more new wood: this wine wants
to be a monster.’ 14.3% alcohol, 30% new oak. Ripe, sweet and
aromatic on the nose with perfumed black cherry fruit. Lush and
pure. The palate is nicely ripe and elegant with lovely pure cherry
and plum fruit and a nice mineral, gravelly freshness. Lovely purity
of fruit. Ripe but saved by the acidity. 92/100
On
vines and yields
‘Of the eight vineyards we use there
are four which I still have to do a green harvest with. They are
younger and the vines are a bit optimistic about what they think
they can ripen. It is like when you are a young guy, you go out and
have two bottles of Jaffelin Aligoté,
and then you have another 6-pack of beer, and then you go and have a
bottle of whisky. But when you get older you go out and just have a
bottle of Burgundy. A young vine is the same: its roots are growing
every year, and this is the big difference between young vines and
old vines. In an old vine, the root growth is stagnating, in a way.
It is still going, but you have a main root system with new
secondary and tertiary roots forming annually. A young vine’s
roots grow for the first 16–18 years, depending on the soil type,
quite dramatically every year. Each year the roots grow, the vigour
on the leaves gets more. But every leaf you get on the top is also a
leaf that needs maintenance. It is respiring and transpiring. This
is why young vines don’t have this equilibrium. You always have to
bring it back a bit for the first 18 years at least. For us, green
harvest is not difficult. On the young vineyards we just leave one
bunch per shoot, and we have eight shoots per plant. So we have
eight bunches, and a bunch of Syrah in the Swartland is 100 g. If
you go to Stellenbosch a bunch of Syrah is 180–220 g. This I have
800 g per plant. Yields are 12–22 hl/ha. I never get more than 22
hl/ha. If I got to 25, the cellar would burst. If we step over 22,
something gives. I now have high density vineyards, they still
don’t get into the Columella blend, but they are fantastic. We
make 12 000 bottles of Columella, and we don’t want to make more.
We also make 12 000 bottles of the white.’
‘With 25 girls sorting out every berry,
we throw away between 8–15% of the grapes each year. In 2003 we
threw away 15%, and in 2004 we threw away just 5%.’
Sadie Family Columella 2004 Swartland,
South Africa
‘This was the first vintage that had the same characteristics of
2000, and this time I recognized it. From the beginning this has
been one of my favourite wines. It’s the sort of vintage you could
live with every year. It is also one of the years where I did the
least sorting.’ Real elegance and harmony here. Nicely balanced
with cherry and plum fruit. Ripe, textured and elegant. Harmonious,
with smooth tannins. Purity and finesse despite good concentration;
a ripe, pure, elegant wine. 94/100
At harvest, our grapes can ripen by 0.5
Brix in a day, which is 0.2% alcohol. In Burgundy, it would take
five days to do this. In one vintage we did 0.2 in a morning, with a
severe heatwave, and there is water in the soil. This is the worst
combination. It is better that there is heat and no water, because
then the vine shuts down. I always thought that going into a
heatwave, it would be better if there is water, but in our climate
it is better if it is dry. The vine tries to fight the heat if there
is water. Until 2009 I was picking on taste, but from 2009 I am
picking on taste and analysing. We took a decision that we never
want to make wine over 14% alcohol. It is a decision; it is not a
stylistic thing.
Sadie
Family Columella 2005 Swartland, South Africa A
good winter was followed by rainfall in January. It was a great
vintage. 14.1% alcohol, 6.7 g/litre. 40% new oak. Beautifully
aromatic. Lovely tar, floral and mineral overtones to the black
cherry fruit. Very fine and expressive. The palate shows lovely ripe
black fruits with some raspberry freshness and lovely structure and
acidity. Fine, vibrant with nice spiciness. 95/100
Sadie
Family Columella 2006 Swartland, South Africa ‘We
go back to a vintage like 2004, with more tea leaf, earthy flavours.
2000, 2004 and 2006 are climatically linked. Perfect rainfall,
sunshine, ripening.’ 14.2% alcohol. Dense and firm with some
earthiness and tarry structure. Showing some evolution already.
Dense, rich, warm and spicy. Quite earthy with some structure.
Distinctive style: oxidative? 90/100
If you farm well, it is incredible how
many things run perfectly. Put a lot of organic material in the
soil, work the soil, don’t spray. I put lots of straw and organic
material on the rows, and work in compost in the sides. Never
overcrop vines. We always choose good sites. We don’t pick
over-ripe. We don’t pick under-ripe because we want to make a 13%
alcohol wine. If I want to make 13% wine I have to sell up and move
to Burgundy, or the northern Rhône. But I want to make wine where I
am: it is my country and my heritage. Then all the stuff just starts
running. When the vineyard is out, everything is out.
Sadie
Family Columella 2007 Swartland, South Africa Just
before harvest there were 6 days of 46 °C each day.
It rained in January and the vines had water and heat, which is a
bad combination. A lot of water and a lot of heat doesn’t work.
The grapes were picked 10 days earlier than normal. ‘The tannins
were completely green, but I couldn’t wait for this magic term
phenolic maturity. We had to cut our losses and get the grapes out
of the sun. We picked all the grapes in 3 weeks: my fastest harvest.
The tannins seemed to be so premature I had to work with new wood
and oxygen. It was the best decision ever in my life. For the first
time I realised the importance of experience in one place.’ 14.1%
alcohol, 48% new wood. Sweet, lush and beautifully aromatic nose.
Floral with blackcurrant and blackberry fruit. The ripe palate shows
sweet black fruits with lovely purity of fruit with nice freshness.
Lovely bitter plum character. Has ripeness but edges. Lovely. 94/100
The problem is I was born a little bit
too late. I should be 80 now. Because I then would have been able to
drink some of the wines of the 40s, 50s and 60s, especially in
Bordeaux. But I don’t buy Bordeaux any more. I think they have a
hard job. They have big properties and there is a lot of money
involved. If you sell 300 000 bottles at 800 Euros ex cellar... They
can give me a big Chateau and a Ferrari and I am not interested. But
they are so consistent and professional they will always survive.
They don’t mess around.
Sadie
Family Columella 2008 Swartland, South Africa ‘After
2007 I decided to pick 2008 earlier. I really love this wine. 2007
changed my mind.’ 20% new wood. 14% alcohol. Very lush, smooth,
pure cherry and blackberry nose. The palate is pure and fresh with
lovely berry fruits. Fresh, elegant and smooth with lovely
definition. Nice intensity with good structure and acidity. Very
pure, taut and delicious. 96/100
Sadie
Family Columella 2009 Swartland, South Africa The
first nine wines, 2000–2008, were made the same way. From 2009 the
wine is made differently, with 12 months in barrel and then 12
months in large oval foudres, with 68 mm thick wood. The goal is to
protect the wine, because as the vineyards are maturing, tannins are
getting smoother and ripeness is being reached at lower alcohol
levels. The other change is the increased proportion of stems used,
now around 35%. 13.8% alcohol. Lovely sweet elegant aromatics of
black cherry and plum fruit. Nice definition. The palate is lighter:
quite elegant with supple, bright, pure cherry and berry fruit.
Youthful and expressive with fine minerally structure. Real elegance
with a fine, sappy greenness. Very serious but approachable now.
95/100
'For the next 10 years we will work with
20–40% whole bunch. When you start working with stems it brings a
very interesting dynamic. Because the stems contain mass but not
sugar, the temperature of the fermentation drops a degree or two.
This mass is not contributing as a fermenting element. We have
vineyards where the whole tank is not destemmed. Of the eight
parcels, five get destemmed and three are 100% whole bunch ferment.
2009 has less colour. The stems also absorb colour, leaching the
colour of the wine. These days everyone wants to make more powerful,
impressive wines, so whole bunch is an unfashionable move because
your wine looks weaker. For many people, colour is an important
property of the wine. I’ll lose some colour to gain freshness and
purity. The wine has more vibrancy and life in it. Where we work in
South Africa, the biggest flaw is our wines are often too ripe.
It’s good to get our wines fresher and more vibrant.'
