Tim Atkin Vintage Highlights
Timed Online Auction, 3 - 20 October 2025
Red Wine
About the Session‘I’m proud to have my name associated with this auction, it’s a celebration of the people, the wines, and the country that I believe are shaping the future of fine wine. Now is the time to buy South African wine, the world is going to discover these wines, and prices will rise.“ – Tim Atkin MW
About this Item
Columella is named after the ancient Roman writer who produced perhaps the earliest good treatise on viticulture in his De re rustica. Starting in 2000, Eben's goal was to produce the finest expression of the Swartland and today Columella is South Africa's most coveted red wine.
Provenance
Private Client
Critics Ratings
Sadie Family Columella 2006
'Watermark quality: each berry selected, long cool ferment/extended maceration, basket press, 2 years French oak, 60% new. '06 is a triumph; fabulous layered textures, lancing allspice tension in ever-evolving harmony. Shiraz and 20% Mourvèdre.' - Platter's SA Wine Guide 2009, 4.5*
'Highly perfumed nose with time in the glass. Dry and such amazing finesse. Very finely textured like strong paper. Beautiful. Dark and subtle. Really light handed and yet long. Mineral, earthy, dry, savoury integrity. It is dense, but not heavy, oak swallowed by the quality of the fruit.' - Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com, 18/20 (May 2009)
'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.' - James Molesworth, Wine Spectator, 94/100 (Jul 2008)
Sadie Family Palladius 2007
'13 different vineyards - all decomposed granite. Soil specialist Claude Bourguignon says some of the most decomposed in the world! Honeysuckle nose. Green and quite stemmy on the nose, the last vintage that was all made in barrel, 20% new. Very rich and dense and still exciting. So vital and rich without being sweet.' - Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, 18/20 (Apr 2014)
'Breathtaking elevation of Chenin: a singular, wondrous tactile sensation. '07 with Grenache Blanc, Clairette Blanche, Viogier and Chardonnay; stonefruit knitted into tingling minerality. Like '06, it is also a stayer. Berry sorting, 18 months French oak. Sheer gravitas…' - Platter's SA Wine Guide 2009, 4.5*