Backfill & Diversify Vol. 6

It’s the turn of South Africa to grace the pages of our Backfill and Diversify offerings and this is something of a landmark moment, as the wines of this beautiful country have, to date, only appeared on Bowes Wine offers of ready-to-drink wines. I just hadn’t found any especially exciting examples that I thought would benefit from cellarage.

Roaring into my field of consciousness and playing deftly with my taste buds has come a wine from the Sadie Family: the 2006 Columella, made by Eben Sadie.

Eben did the European tour, studying approaches to terroir and how to maximise its influence. The answer? Do as little as possible in the winery, as much as possible in the vineyard. 

Columella is now regarded as being one of the top handful of red wines of the Cape, by many the best of all.

N.B. Columella is a blend of Shiraz and Mourvèdre.

Vintage	Wine	Drink dates	Case size	Price IB	Notes	Order
2006	Columella, The Sadie Family, Swartland, South Africa	2010-2016	6x75cl	£186.00
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"Dark and alluring, with currant paste, fig sauce and dark plum notes that glide over rich but fine-grained tannins. Hints of mesquite, melted licorice and bittersweet ganache fill out the finish. Has plenty of length and concentration. This should fill out with moderate cellaring. Syrah and Mourvèdre. 94/100." The Wine Spectator